However far away I will always love you
by nodistancelefttorun
Summary: Sequel to Whatever words I say I will always love you. Blaine and Kurt are in their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The story is better than the summary okay
1. Chapter 1

I decided to do a sequel to my other story Whatever words I say I will always love you. If you haven't read it, you probably should, or you might not understand this story.  
I'm not sure what's going to happen, I'm mostly writing this because it's fun and it takes my mind off other things. Ah well!

* * *

It had been three years.

Blaine Anderson and his unofficial boyfriend Kurt Hummel had both moved up into the sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For their own safety they hadn't gone official again since they tried it in their third year. It just wasn't worth the constant terror that they (or more accurately, Kurt) had to endure.

They kept meeting in the Room of Requirement once a week. They both spent all their holidays at the castle as it was one of very few opportunities for them to spend time together outside of the Room of Requirement. Although Blaine was forced to go home for Christmas in their fifth year because his mother didn't think it was healthy for him to be away from home so much.

It wasn't ideal, and they both suffered from the constant hiding and lying to their friends, but it was the only way they could be together. There had been some bumps in the road and they had almost broken up a couple of times, but they had always sorted it out in the end.

Neither of them had expected them to make it all the way into their sixth year. They had been together for about three years, give or take, and that was more than the relationships their friends had been in. Kurt had lost count of all the times he had been forced to stay up all night in the Gryffindor common room because one of his friends had been dumped.  
His friend Rachel, who was in Ravenclaw, took a little more work since they couldn't talk in either of their common rooms. Instead they had to sneak off to somewhere else in the castle, but as Kurt didn't want anyone but him and Blaine to know about the Room of Requirement, they often got caught by patrolling teachers when they snuck out during the night.

She needed consolation about every other month because she broke up, fought with or was generally heartbroken over Kurt's stepbrother Finn all the time. They had broken up, dated others for a while, gotten back together and then went through it all again. Sometimes Finn would come to him and beg him to help him understand some girl he was dating because he was too self-centered sometimes to understand when he had done something wrong or what a girl expected from him.

Kurt was quite good at reading girls because even though he didn't have any first-hand experience with dating them, he had _plenty _of experience with comforting girls who had been hurt by boys. So he was really good at what _not_ to do, which in many cases helped his guy friends understand their own problems.

Mercedes had broken up with Sam because she thought he was too immature, which Kurt really thought was a pity because they were so great together.  
She had dated plenty of guys after him, most recently a not too clever boy from Hufflepuff who insisted on believing that Kurt's actual name was Dolphin because Kurt's friend Brittany called him that. Kurt didn't like any of her new boyfriends as much as he liked Sam, so he always tried to fix them up again.

Mercedes had figured it out though, and was much more careful now when taking his advice regarding her love life in case he was just trying to spin her into the waiting arms of Sam.

Kurt really enjoyed fixing people up. He had managed a few lucky combinations and some that turned out to be quite disastrous. During one of Rachel and Finn's breaks he had introduced Rachel to a boy in Ravenclaw who had seemed really nice at first, but later turned out to be insanely jealous with an explosive temper. He had gone absolutely crazy when he had caught Rachel talking to one of her male friends in a hallway after class, and in an attempt to hex the boy he had landed himself in the hospital wing for a week when the curse backfired.

But there had been a few successful ones too. For example, his friend Rory from Hufflepuff had been really heartbroken after his girlfriend broke up with him, so Kurt had introduced him to a nice girl from Gryffindor in the year below them. They had been together for seven months now.

Blaine often complained about this new-found interest in other people's love lives, because it took up so much of Kurt's time that, in addition to his enormous passion for fashion, it didn't leave much time for their own. But, to Kurt's defence, the only reason he spent so much time planning dates for his friends was because he couldn't take Blaine out on a proper date himself, and he had all these amazing plans that would otherwise go unused.  
This usually shut Blaine up because he felt so bad for depriving Kurt of that pleasure.

* * *

"What do you think of this one?", Kurt asked thoughtfully and held up a picture of a red dress which, to Blaine, looked like every other red dress he had ever seen.

"It's really pretty", Blaine answered.

"Is it better than this one? This one looks better with her body type, but _this _one really goes great with her eyes", Kurt said and held up another picture.

"Either one will be great", Blaine said.

"But don't you have a preference?", Kurt pressed on.

"I'm sorry but I really don't. To me they look the same", Blaine said.

Kurt sighed and turned back to the handful of pictures he had in front of him.

He continued shuffling them around, holding one up for him to consider and then putting it away, without consulting Blaine again.

He gave a theatrical sigh as to let Blaine know he was slightly upset that he didn't care more.

After a few of these, Blaine put away his quill and turned away from his homework that lay spread out on the table in front of him.

"What is it?", he asked impatiently.

"You could at least pretend to care", Kurt said and glanced his way.

"I'm just not in the mood to pick out the next dress for the big Finn and Rachel-date", Blaine said. He tried to stay patient but didn't manage it too well.

Kurt sniffed indignantly and turned away.

"I'm sorry, but _why_ would I care what Rachel wears to her date? The only date I'd be interested in plotting an outfit for is a date with you and that's not going to happen, so why bother?", Blaine said and returned to his homework.

Kurt turned to look at him again.

"Is that what this is about?", he asked.

Blaine hesitated.

"Forget it", he mumbled and bent lower over the parchment he was working on.

"Why are you being so difficult? Can't you just talk to me?", Kurt asked.

He put away his pictures and went over to Blaine's table and Conjured a chair next to him that he sat down on.

They were, of course, in the Room of Requirement.

"It's just- I'm sick of planning dates for every single person in this castle except for us", Blaine said.

"But we can't-"

"I know. I _know_ it's the only way and I know it's worth that sacrifice but it still sucks. All of our friends are in and out of relationships, going on dates and holding hands in the hallways. And all I can do is watch you from across the classroom and think to myself that, if I'm lucky, maybe I can admire you for just a few more seconds without anyone noticing. How pathetic is that?", Blaine said and looked up.

Kurt smiled sadly.

"It's horrible for me too. But we just have to put it in perspective. If we went on an official date, we would get beaten up and the stress of it all would probably make us break up. This way we can at least see each other without being afraid of ending up in the hospital wing", he said.

"I know. It's just so unfair", Blaine sighed. He buried his face in his folded arms and made an agitated sound.

"Why are you so upset about this right now?", Kurt asked and stroked Blaine's hair out of his eyes.

Blaine mumbled something but it was too muffled for Kurt to make out the words.

"I can't hear you", he said gently.

Blaine shifted his arms slightly so his mouth was free and said, "Valentines Day is coming up."

"Oh", was all Kurt could say.

They were silent for a while.

"But we'll just spend Valentines here like usual", Kurt said soothingly.

"I can't. Sebastian made me promise I'd go on a double date with him", Blaine mumbled.

Kurt felt a sting of jealousy at hearing this, which annoyed him because he knew it was completely unnecessary.  
He forgot that he was supposed to answer, which made Blaine look up and, unfortunately, catch a glimpse of the envy in Kurt's eyes.

"I didn't have a choice. I turned down his double date-ideas last time he asked me, I can't do it again", Blaine said.

"Of course", Kurt said in a hollow voice.

"Kurt", Blaine said softly and straightened up. "I wouldn't go if I had a choice. Maybe we can meet up afterwards."

Kurt nodded.

"Who is he going with?", he asked with forced disinterest.

"Santana", Blaine answered.

"And you?"

Blaine hesitated.

"One of her friends. I don't know her name. She's, according to Sebastian, 'easy to get with'. Look, if this makes you uncomfortable I can pretend to be sick or something", he said anxiously.

"No, of course you should go. She sounds nice", Kurt said tensely.

"Kurt-"

"No, it's fine. Really", Kurt interrupted him.

"Who's being difficult now?", Blaine mumbled.

"I'm sorry", Kurt said sincerely. "It's just unfair that she gets to go with you when I can't."

"But you just said-"

"I don't care if it's the right thing to do or if it's better for us in the long run. I hate watching you go on dates with girls that look ten times better than me when it should be _me _you go on dates with", Kurt said sadly.

"You're forgetting two very important things. First of all, I'm gay, so even the prettiest girl in the world wouldn't catch my interest. Second, I love you and no one else, and going on a couple of pointless dates with girls I'll never speak to again won't change that", Blaine said soothingly.

Kurt couldn't resist smiling.

"It's ridiculous, I know", he said and shook his head.

"Well, I feel the same way when you go on dates", Blaine said.

"There's no needs. I usually scare them off in the first five minutes. You on the other hand have a whole bunch of fangirls following you around", he said with an amused smile.

Blaine's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"I don't have fangirls", he finally managed to get out.

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Of course you do. Have you never wondered why the library is always packed with girls as soon as you go there? They're never there unless you are", he said.

"You're making that up", Blaine said firmly.

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you can keep denying it all you want", he said and got up and walked over to his own work again. Then he added, "But you should be careful so they don't slip you a _love potion._"

Blaine blushed.

"I told you I was sorry about that", he said ashamedly.

Kurt grinned.

"I know", he said.

"Don't you have some dresses to look at instead of teasing me?", Blaine asked.

"I promised Rachel I'd be done by Friday and it's only Tuesday so I have some time for teasing you too", Kurt said sweetly.

Blaine grimaced.

"Okay, I won't get in the way of your essay writing. I'll just leave you alone", Kurt said and smiled.

But Blaine wasn't planning on writing much longer. Instead he abandoned his work and, with a innocent smile, sat down next to Kurt who had re-focused on the pictures of dresses.

He watched Kurt who sketched down a few different dresses on a parchment without acknowledging his boyfriend's prying eyes.

"I'm done with my essay, if you could tear yourself from your planning for a few minutes", Blaine said enticingly.

Kurt smiled, though he didn't take his eyes off the parchment.  
Before he could respond, Blaine had tugged him away from his sketches and kissed him.

Not that he objected.


	2. Chapter 2

Valentines Day was drawing nearer and despite Kurt's constant reassurances that he was fine with Blaine going on that double date, Blaine got more and more anxious each day.

He tried to come up with something that would get him out of it so he could spend the day with Kurt, but each idea was more unlikely than the previous.

Since they couldn't spend the day together, Kurt had decided to spend it on his own. He said he would lock himself up in the Room of Requirement and listen to music and eat chocolate all night.

This upset Blaine even more. More than anything he wanted Kurt to get that perfect, romantic Valentines Day, and instead he would be spending it alone. So he persuaded Kurt to make plans with Mercedes and Rachel as they didn't have dates either. Mercedes had broken up with that weird Hufflepuff boy and Rachel and Finn were broken up too, so they had willingly agreed to a Lonely Hearts Club with Kurt.  
It made Blaine feel a little better, but his own prospects for the night were still inescapably dark.

He would have to sit by and watch Sebastian and Santana make out all night whilst he had to make it very clear to his date that there would be no fooling around. He felt bad for depriving her of a Valentines Day. After all, she didn't know he was taken.

"Alright, I have to go", Blaine said heavily.

Kurt turned his head and pouted.

"Already?", he asked.

"Yeah. Sebastian is waiting for me outside the Great Hall", Blaine said.

"Okay."

Kurt bit his lip, and Blaine could see the question that he was afraid to ask.

"I'll be back before eleven, okay? We'll meet here and then we'll have at least an hour of Valentines Day", he said.

Kurt nodded.

Blaine went up to where he was sitting on the bed and tilted his head slightly upwards with his finger.

"Promise me you'll see Mercedes and Rachel", he said.

"I promise", Kurt echoed, not tearing his eyes from Blaine's face.

He leaned down to kiss him, but Kurt wasn't satisfied with that. He pulled him down on the bed and rolled over so he was on top of him. Blaine smiled and tried to reach up to pull his hand through Kurt's hair, but he just pinned down Blaine's hands on either side of his head.

Blaine laughed.

"Oh, well, maybe I can stay for a few more minutes", he said lightly.

Kurt smiled, straightened up and let go of his wrists. Blaine used his new freedom to pull Kurt down next to him and wrap his arms around him so tightly he could barely move an inch.

"Like you even want to leave", Kurt grinned.

"Of course I don't. I'd stay here forever if I could", Blaine said.

After another dozen of kisses, Kurt slithered out of Blaine's grasp and gave him a gentle shove towards the door.

"You'll be late", he said.

"I don't care", Blaine said and tried to take him in his arms again, but Kurt pushed him away.

"Sebastian is waiting", he reminded him.

Blaine sighed.

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you tonight then. Have fun, okay?", he said anxiously.

"Of course. Don't be so overprotective, I'll be fine", Kurt said and straightened out Blaine's bow tie that had gotten slightly crooked. "Try not to make that girl fall too much in love with you, okay?"

"I'll try", Blaine grimaced.

Feeling quite miserable, he closed the door behind him and headed down to the Great Hall.

He really wished the hours could just speed by so he could return to the Room of Requirement soon.

Sebastian was waiting for him as expected.

"You're late", he called when he saw him approaching.

"Sorry, I was fixing my hair", Blaine lied as he came nearer. "Are they meeting us here?"

"Yeah, they should be here soon. Are you excited?", Sebastian asked.

"Totally", Blaine said with faked enthusiasm.

Sebastian saw right through it, but he misinterpreted it.

"Don't worry, she'll love you. Buy her a drink and she'll be good to go", Sebastian said and winked.

Blaine laughed shakily.

He was terrified that she would try to kiss him. Even if he pulled away immediately, it would still feel like cheating. But he couldn't stay away from her all night. Sebastian was expecting him to get some action, so to speak, and he had to at least act as if he was trying.

Sebastian was clever and really good at noticing the little things. If he even suspected that Blaine was already dating someone, he would go crazy and not relax until Blaine had revealed a name.

He had been suspicious through out the years, of course, and every now and then he cornered Blaine and demanded to know the name of his secret girlfriend.

Since it had never crossed his mind to ask for a potential boyfriend, Blaine barely had to lie at all. He just told him he didn't have a secret girlfriend and that he was merely sneaking off to study. During their fifth year it was actually quite true. Even when he had met Kurt they had spent most of their time studying for the upcoming O.W.L's. This year they were preparing for N.E.W.T's

He needed to scare this girl off without making it look like that was his agenda.

Sebastian had really made an effort. He was wearing a very fancy looking blazer and dress shoes.

Blaine had originally put on jeans and a t-shirt because he didn't want to look too inviting, but Kurt had forced him into his nicest clothes because he couldn't "go dressed like a slob just because he wasn't planning on getting laid".

"There she is", Sebastian said suddenly and pointed to a girl with long yellowish hair and a red dress with a big plastic heart at the front.  
Blaine's jaw dropped. Kurt would have puked if he had seen that dress. It was so tacky.

"Hey, where is Santana?", Sebastian asked as the girl approached.

"She cancelled", she said.

Now it was Sebastian's turn to lose his mask.

"She _what_? But we've planned this for weeks", he exclaimed.

"She said she didn't have time", the girl said and shrugged.

Sebastian seemed to have a lot of other questions, but she waved him off and turned to Blaine instead.

"And you are Blaine, I suppose?", she said seductively.

He nodded uncomfortably.

She introduced herself, but her name was so bland and normal that he forgot it as soon as she had closed her mouth.  
What was he going to do if Sebastian decided to go find Santana and leave him alone with this girl?

But Sebastian had recovered from the, by the look of him, devastating news and put on that confident smile again.

"Ah, well, should we go?", he asked.

Blaine nodded quickly, eager to get Sebastian to come along with them.

The girl grabbed hold of his arm and tugged him along with her after Sebastian.

He tried to keep a distance between them but she clinged to him and he couldn't shake her off.  
He tried to look pleased but he just wanted to push her as far away from him as he could.

She kept fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket and he couldn't understand why she would do that.

When they finally came to the Great Hall, it was quite crowded and he managed to pull away his arm from her grasp when they made their way to a free table.

The four long tables had been replaced with a sea of smaller tables, fit for two or four persons.

They chose a table for four at the far end of the room.  
They ordered verbally and the plates magically filled themselves with the ordered meals.

Blaine focused on his food and ignored the girl's attempts to strike up a conversation.  
When she realised he wasn't going to answer, she reluctantly turned to Sebastian instead.

He was more than happy to talk and after over an hour of intense flirting, which Blaine tried his best to tune out, they seemed really into each other.  
The girl had forgotten all about Blaine who was still eating with enthusiasm.

Suddenly he could feel someone tugging at his sleeve. His mood sank rapidly as he thought it was the girl who had returned her attention to him again, but he relaxed again when he realised it was just Sebastian.

"Blaine, I know she's your date, but do you mind if I-", he began.

"No, go ahead", Blaine said, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Are you sure? I mean, I could go find someone else but she's really into me so-"

"No, of course, I'll just find something else to do", Blaine said.

"No offence, but can you even pick up a girl on your own?", Sebastian asked.

"I have to learn some day, right?", Blaine said with a strained smile.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed.

"Or do you_ have _a girl already?", he asked suspiciously.

Blaine rolled his eyes, though it wasn't as convincing as when Kurt did it.

"Why would I go on this date if I had a girlfriend?", he asked.

"Maybe you're ashamed. Is she a Gryffindor? Or worse- is she a _Mudblood_?", Sebastian asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't- just go, okay?", Blaine said impatiently.

"You'll have to tell me about her later", Sebastian said strictly. Then he added, to the girl, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

She jumped up, linked arms with him and looked very proud of herself for landing such a hot guy for Valentines. Blaine felt bad for her. He knew how quickly Sebastian usually got rid of a girl once he was tired with her.

This girl was one of those girls he got tired of at once. She didn't seem too interested in having a proper conversation either, so maybe that was what she wanted too. She had spent most of the dinner telling Sebastian how good-looking he was, so she was probably aware of how fleeting their fling would be.

Blaine didn't dwell on it much longer. As soon as she had disappeared with Sebastian, he cleared out too and half-ran to the Room of Requirement.

Most students were in the Great Hall, so he barely met anyone on his way.

It took a while before he realised that Kurt must have left already.

Nevertheless he walked past the empty wall three times and slipped inside. It was a habit by now to only open the door a couple of inches and slide in through the tiny gap.

To his great surprise, he found Kurt lying on the bed listening to music from an old vinyl player in the corner.

"What are you-", he began, but Kurt silenced him with a quick 'Silencio!' that sealed Blaine's mouth shut. He fought against it but it was pointless.

Kurt closed his eyes, listened intently to the music as it faded away and then took the jinx off Blaine.

"You can't just-", he protested, but Kurt interrupted.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just love that ending, it's so beautiful. Wait- what are you doing here? Your date can't be over already? You weren't even gone two hours", he said and sat up straight.

Blaine shrugged.

"Santana cancelled and Sebastian hit it off with my date so I took the opportunity to leave. Why are you still here? Aren't Mercedes and Rachel waiting for you?", he asked.

Kurt looked a little guilty.

"Well, I'd be surprised if they were since I didn't make any plans with them", he said carefully.

"Kurt-", Blaine moaned. "You promised."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I really don't feel like doing anything else than lying here and listening to music. Is that so terrible? I'm not unhappy with it so why make plans?", Kurt argued.

"But-"

"What's the point of arguing? You're here now. Would you rather spend the next hours with me, or just waiting for me to come back from seeing Mercedes and Rachel?", Kurt asked.

"Of course I'd rather be with you, but if I hadn't-"

"Then stop making such a big deal out of it and be with me."

Blaine rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, okay. I'll go down to the kitchens and ask for some food."

"Didn't you just eat?", Kurt asked, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yeah, well, I'm still hungry. Do you want anything?", Blaine asked.

Kurt shrugged and fell backwards onto the bed again.

"I'm not hungry", he said.

Blaine shot him a suspicious look, which Kurt of course didn't see.

"Yeah, okay, I'll be back soon", he said.

With a few moments hesitation, he went over to the bed and leaned down to give Kurt a quick kiss before he went.  
Kurt's smile was the last thing he saw before he closed the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

In this chapter I'll introduce my second favourite ship in Glee!  
Though I've never written them before so I'm sorry if the characters are more off than usual.

* * *

The seventh floor was still quite empty. Blaine passed a group of Gryffindor second-year girls who glared suspiciously at him when he passed, as if he would hex them if they turned their backs on him.

He really hated being a Slytherin sometimes. He gave them a quite fierce look in return, which made them all jump a little and hurry out of his way.  
He felt slightly better afterwards, even though he realised it hadn't exactly improved their image of the Slytherins. Oh, well.

He continued down the staircase and through all the different hallways.

But when he reached the fifth floor, he could hear a voice drifting towards him from a classroom to his right. Was it- was it Santana?

Yes, it was most certainly her. Blaine knew her voice anywhere.

What was she doing on the fifth floor that was more important than a date on Valentines?

He peered into the classroom from which the voice had come, and a small gasp escaped him as he fully took in the scene in front of him.

Santana hadn't showed up to her date with Sebastian, because she was already on a date with another. And not just anyone.  
On the other end of the classroom, Santana was standing with her back to Blaine and she was too busy making out with a blonde girl to notice him standing in the door.  
The girl was pressed up against the wall with her hands in Santana's hair, and Blaine knew too well what those intense kisses and moans were leading to.

Before he could discreetly back out of the room, the girl had noticed him.

"Oh, isn't that your friend? Did you invite him?", she asked Santana, a little breathless after the heavy kissing.

Santana spun around, her dress askew and her eyes panicked.

"Blaine- what- what are you-", she stuttered.

It was quite the experience to see Santana Lopez at a loss of words. He had never caught her off guard in the six years they had known each other.

"I wasn't- I wasn't looking- I mean- I didn't-"

Blaine found himself being just as embarrassed as Santana. Or, well, maybe not quite as much since he was at least wearing all his clothes.

"What's wrong? Why are you upset?", the girl asked quietly and stroke Santana's hair out of her eyes.

"Britt, it's fine", Santana mumbled and shot her a quick smile.

Then it hit Blaine who the girl was. Brittany, from Ravenclaw. Of course, she was friends with Kurt too.

"Blaine, you won't tell anyone, right?", Santana asked anxiously.

The at first intriguing sensation of seeing Santana vulnerable didn't last long. It was painful to see her look so scared. She must be really terrified of coming out. Just like he and Kurt were.

"Of course not", he managed to say.

She breathed out of relief.

"Thanks. I mean, I don't want to be labelled", she said and glanced at Brittany. "You know how people are."

He nodded. He knew better than most people.

She found his eyes.

"You won't tell Sebastian either?"

"Of course not. It's none of his business", Blaine said firmly.

She smiled at him. She actually _smiled_.

"I'll just- I'll just go", Blaine said and returned the smile awkwardly.

He considered telling her about him and Kurt, but decided against it. He hadn't consulted Kurt about it, and he didn't want to do anything to upset him today.  
It was a slight comfort to know they weren't the only ones in the closet at Hogwarts, at least.

When the time came, maybe the four of them could be friends.

Santana had never been very fond of Kurt of course, as he was, according to her, 'squeaky and annoying'.

When he exited the room, he could hear Brittany whispering about how she didn't understand why they couldn't go down to dinner.

"We can't be seen together, Britt, remember?", Santana answered.

Blaine didn't know if he imagined it or not, but he could swear he heard a soft sob coming from Brittany.  
He quickly hurried off in the general direction of the kitchens. He thought that conversation deserved its privacy, though he couldn't understand why they hadn't put up some protective charms outside the room.

With that thought drilling through his brain, he decided to go back. What if someone else had seen them? Someone who weren't in the closet themselves.

He gently knocked on the door. There was definitely a sob this time, and then Santana came to open the door.

Brittany looked distraught behind her.

"Why don't you put some spells on the door so no one can hear you or come in here? You're taking a huge risk here", Blaine said and gestured to the frail door.

"I don't know how to do those", Santana snapped.

It was, of course, her self-defence mechanism setting in.

She always got like that when she was in a difficult position.

"I'll do them for you, okay?", Blaine offered and turned to the door.

He cast the Imperturbable Charm (which soundproofed the classroom and kept people from approaching it) and the Intruder Charm (which would let them know if anyone was trying to get in anyway).  
Brittany had calmed down and was now peeking curiously over his shoulder as Blaine cast them and checked that they worked properly.

"I'll come back tonight and undo them for you, okay?", he said and caught Santana's eye.

"Why are you doing this?", she asked harshly.

"I'm just trying to help", Blaine said.

"But why? I wouldn't have helped you. I would have told everyone", Santana said coolly.

"Yeah, well, I know what it's like and I thought I'd help. And I honestly don't think you would have told everyone if the roles had been reversed either", Blaine said, never looking away from her eyes.

She hesitated.

"Since when are you such a dumb Gryffindor?", she muttered and looked away.

"Company rubs off on you, I guess", he said, glad she was surrendering.

Her eyes narrowed and snapped back to his.

"You've been seeing a Gryffindor? Who?", she demanded.

He just smiled at her and ignored the comment.

"Have fun. I'll see you at Quidditch practise next week, Santana", he said lightly.

Then he left the room and, feeling rather proud of himself, headed to the kitchens again.

* * *

"I'm back", he called when he entered the Room of Requirement a bit later.

Kurt was still lying on the bed on his back. There was no music playing this time.

"Are you okay?", Blaine asked anxiously.

He put down the box of food on a nearby table and went over to sit next to his boyfriend.

Kurt didn't say anything, he just lay there with his eyes closed. He didn't even stir when Blaine carefully laid down next to him and pulled him into his arms.

"What's wrong?", Blaine asked so quietly that Kurt barely caught the words.

"It's just- Valentines. It sucks", Kurt mumbled.

"It doesn't have to. We're together now, we can do anything you'd-"

"No, we can't."

"Of course we ca-"

Kurt broke lose of Blaine's embrace and sat up. Blaine remained still, watching Kurt's face expression turn from sad to upset.

"Really, we can? So, if I wanted to, we could just get out of this stupid room and go have a proper Valentines date down in the Great Hall with all the straight couples? Or, you know, just hold hands for once without being _here_. I can't even say hi to you outside of these four walls without anyone getting suspicious or without people asking questions. It's just unfair and stupid and it _hurts_", Kurt ranted.

Blaine didn't know what to say.  
They often had these conversations of how much it sucked that they had to hide, and it wasn't that uncommon for either of them to have small breakdowns over how unfair it all was.

But this time it seemed like something more than just a rant to blow off some steam.

"I know it's horrible but what options do we have?", Blaine asked.

He didn't dare sit up too in case Kurt would move further away. He couldn't stand the thought.

"But this isn't_ living_, Blaine. We're just sitting here day in and day out. And even though we change the setting of the room it's still just one room. I want to be able to go up to you whenever I feel like it and just kiss you or hug you or do anything to prove to myself that you're still real. We've been together for three years, and we've had like two kisses outside of this room. That doesn't tell you something's wrong?", Kurt said, gesticulating wildly with his hands.

"Of course I'd like that too, but reality is-", Blaine began.

"Honestly, it makes me think you're ashamed of me."

They both fell silent.

Kurt looked away, and Blaine shot up like a rocket.

"You think I'm _ashamed_ of you?", he echoed.

"Well, yeah, it does fit the situation, don't you think? You haven't tried to make eye contact with me a single time in the hallways since third year. You refuse to acknowledge my existence unless we're in here. And I know that because I am constantly looking at you, hoping you'll look my way so I for just one second can believe that these past three years haven't been a dream, or something I just made up in my head. And you never do. And I know it's just to 'protect us' but how is that really supposed to make me feel?"

Blaine was dumbstruck.

He hadn't really considered this.

"But I don't understand- you know I'm not a dream or whatever-"

"How could I know that for sure? Since you pulled that love potion trick in our third year I haven't been able to let go of the thought that you're under the influence of some love potion or a charm or anything that makes you believe you love me when you really don't. I'm always afraid that I will wake up one day and you'll be gone and I won't be able to find you and- and it just breaks my heart."

Blaine felt as though his heart had just been ripped out, stomped on, cut into thousands of pieces and then been put back into his chest again.

"Kurt, honey, I-"

He didn't know what to say to make Kurt understand how he never needed to doubt how much Blaine loved him.

Kurt shook his head.

"It's not your fault. I'm just- I don't know. I'm confused and sad that it has to be this way. I don't understand why we have to live in fear like this when everyone else gets to display their love in public without anyone beating them up. And I've made peace with who I am, at least I thought so, but I can't help but wonder... what if they're right?", he glanced at Blaine who looked absolutely horrified as he continued, "I mean what if it really is just a phase, or what if we really shouldn't feel this way, or what if this _is _wrong. Or what if this is just a big scam that some god has put up to torment us, and what if what we feel isn't real at all and it's all just- I don't know."

"Are you saying you want us to break up?", Blaine asked quietly.

"No! No, of course not. I- I'm just a mess." Kurt sighed, and shook his head yet again. "Of course I know that they're the ones who are close-minded and wrong for judging a person by their sexuality, and of course I love you. I'm just terrified of how much I love you and that you might not love me as much."

Blaine sighed and moved closer to him. Kurt flinched but didn't object as Blaine entwined their fingers. He squeezed Kurt's hand firmly to enhance his next words.

"I know it's hard to not let homophobes get into your head sometimes, and I've been doubting myself too because of those people, but I hope you know that you are so much more than just your sexual preferences. Being gay isn't what characterizes you. And I love you more than anything and I'll do anything to make you happy, and if you want me to do some grand love gesture in public then I'd do it in a heartbeat. Because really, who cares if society labels us as weirdos or if our friends freezes us out or if our parents thinks we're a disgrace or-"

His voice got hollow and drifted off. His parents had always been a soft spot.

There was a huge sacrifice to be made if they went official again. He hadn't thought about it for some time, but maybe the time had come. He was sixteen, for god's sake, he should have manned up a long time ago and done this. It was ridiculous to hide the person he loved just because it wasn't accepted by some people. Who were they to tell him who he can and can't love?

It was so simple in theory. But when he thought about actually doing it, he froze in panic.

It would change his whole life.

He could feel Kurt squeeze his hand even tighter to get his attention again as he had drifted off completely.  
Once he returned his attention to him, he noticed that the roles were reversed and that Kurt was actually trying to comfort _him_ now. That wasn't how this conversation was going to turn out.

"Look, I was just ventilating. This works for us, and yeah it's hard, but we'll get through it. If you could just acknowledge my existence outside of this room every once in a while, I'll be okay. And we did try the official thing before and it didn't work out, so perhaps it's better if we just stay this way until we graduate next year", Kurt said.

His soft voice had such a calming effect on Blaine that it was ridiculous.

"When did I become such a wreck?", Blaine mumbled.

Kurt smiled.

"We're just drama queens", he said and winked.

He really had his mood swings. Now it seemed as though he had never been sad at all.

Blaine tried to adopt his new mood too, and it worked quite well.

"I brought chocolate cake from the kitchen, it's in the box over there", he said and pointed towards it.

"Why did you bring cake? I thought you were getting food", Kurt said.

"Yeah, well you seemed sad so I thought I'd bring chocolate cake just in case you'd need it. And-"

He didn't get much further as Kurt wrapped his arms around him and caused them both to tumble down onto the bed.

He couldn't help but laugh when Kurt continued by kissing him multiple times, each kiss more intense than the previous.

"I'm sorry, I was just consumed by my love for you and I couldn't help myself", Kurt said with a wink, rather breathlessly, as he stopped for a few moments to even out their breathing.

"Or your love for chocolate cake", Blaine joked.

Kurt gave him a very serious look.

"Of course, I'm only dating you because you provide me with cake when I'm sad", he said.

"Of course", Blaine echoed.

His eyes kept darting back to Kurt's lips, which were irresistibly gorgeous as always.

He could feel every inch of him wanting to get even nearer to him, to feel his lips against his own again.  
Kurt smiled. He was on top of him, looking down at him and, he too, couldn't keep his eyes off Blaine's lips.

"Happy Valentines Day", he said softly, and picked at a lose string of hair that had fallen into Blaine's eyes.

Blaine didn't respond in words. Instead he rolled them around so he was on top, and kissed Kurt so thoroughly that the boy gasped.

"Mm, happy Valentines", he agreed when they took a break to inhale oxygen before Kurt crashed their lips together again.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine was having the worst day.

He had barely slept the previous night so it was close to impossible to pay attention to his classes.

All of his professors had to ask him each question three times before he understood it, and his friends had woken him up more than five times throughout the day. He was pleasantly surprised that they even bothered to wake him instead of letting him sleep on and get detention for not paying attention.

The day went by in slow-motion and he felt like screaming the entire time.

Every now and then he had these thoroughly terrible days, but he could always find some comfort in the fact that he got to see Kurt at the end of it.

He and Kurt had made plans for the night but it seemed unlikely Blaine would make it in time, which really made him upset because Kurt had promised him to plan something really special.

Karofsky had graduated Hogwarts and left Santana as the new Quidditch Captain.  
She had set Quidditch practise at least three times a week for the past three or four weeks in preparation for their upcoming match again Ravenclaw.

And just a few seconds ago, at dinner, Sebastian had come to sit with him and told him about how Santana was demanding that the entire team showed up at practise in two hours.

"But I can't tonight!", Blaine argued. In the corner of his eye he could see Kurt stir on the other side of the room as he heard Blaine's voice.

"What do you want me to do about it?", Sebastian asked bitterly. "I have to blow off my date for this stupid practise."

Blaine opened his mouth to say just how much _he_ was sacrificing but quickly got himself together.

Just as they were complaining to each other over how unfair it all was, Santana quietly sneaked up behind them.

"If it doesn't suit you, then drop out!", she said coldly, right next to Sebastian's ear. "I have loads of Chasers wanting to take your spot, lover boy."

They both jumped out of shock.

"Of course not, babe", Sebastian said, too confused to realise his mistake.

You didn't call Santana Lopez 'babe' just like that.

She smiled one of her nastiest smiles.

"I think you and I need to practise our Chaser skills after the mandatory training session, Sebastian. And who knows how long that could take, it could take _hours_."

She really had a way of terrifying even the bravest lion into a small, sad pile of fur.

The lion metaphor sent his thoughts right back to Kurt, who he could see looked disappointed across the room.

He scrambled to his feet and followed Santana as she left the Great Hall.

"Santana, I was wondering if I could skip practise tonight-"

"I could replace you too!", she snapped.

"Can't I get out just this one time? I have plans-"

She smirked.

"You have plans, huh? With who?", she asked.

He glared at her.

"I can't- I can't tell you", he said. "Can't you just let me off the hook tonight?"

"Not unless you tell me", she said slyly.

"I can't tell you, okay? It's- it's like you and Brittany", he said.

Santana's jaw dropped.

She grabbed his arm and dragged him along with her away from the open space outside the Great Hall and into a deserted hallway.

"You have a _boyfriend_?", she hissed.

Blaine couldn't decide if he should confess or lie blatantly.

What if Santana had only pretended to make out with Brittany to get him to reveal his own sexuality so she could make it public and mock him for it?  
But it was way overdue that he came out of the closet anyway. He might as well do it to her.

"Yeah, I have a boyfriend."

She stared at him.

He waited for the 'aha, I got you!', but it didn't come.

"Is it the Gryffindor dolphin?", she asked finally.

Blaine was utterly perplexed.

"A- a dolphin?", he repeated uncertainly.

She rolled her eyes impatiently.

"I've spent too much time with Britt", she said. "Is it Kurt?"

Now it was Blaine's turn to stare.

"How did you-"

"You're not that subtle. Remember when you two were paired up in Defence against the Dark Arts last year and it looked like you were both going to explode into a rainbow of gay?", she said and smirked.

Blaine blushed. He remembered that day very clearly.  
The two of them had sat together in the back of the classroom and Kurt's fingers had lingered on his hand when he had given Blaine's wand back after sending it flying across the room with a simple 'Expelliarmus!'

"I thought we were so careful", he said and shook his head.

"I don't think most people noticed", she said in an almost comforting sense.

"So, is it okay if I skip practise?", he asked, trying to change the subject.

"No."

"But you said-"

"Look, I was going to have a date with Brittany tonight and that didn't happen either. We really have to practise for the next match and- hey, I'm not doing this to torment you, it's just how it is. Quidditch has to come before dates", she said firmly.

"Yeah, okay. See you at seven", he said unhappily and began to turn away.

"And be one time!", she said. There was a small hesitation in her voice before she added, "I won't set practise tomorrow night so you can just reschedule to then."

He turned to smile at her.

"Thank you!", he called before hurrying back to the Great Hall in hope of catching Kurt before he left.

He was lucky, because Kurt was just leaving, unaccompanied, when he got there.

"Kurt", he hissed from the fairly shadowy hallway, loud enough for him to hear.

He craned his neck to see who had called his name.

When he saw Blaine's head peer out from around the corner he quickly walked over to him.

"What are you doing?", he asked, puzzled.

"We have to talk. Do you have time?", Blaine asked.

"Well, yes. But what-"

Blaine barely waited for a response before he grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him along with him into a classroom and closed the door behind them.

"Why are you all worked up?", Kurt asked and settled down on a desk.

"I can't make the date tonight", Blaine announced.

"I know, I heard you talking to Sebastian about it", Kurt said, frowning as he tried to figure out why Blaine was acting so weird.

"Santana promised me she won't schedule practise tomorrow so we can have the date then instead", Blaine continued.

Kurt nodded.

"I have practise to seven but after that I'm all yours", he said.

The words sent shivers down Blaine's spine, but he ignored it for the time being. He had more important things to discuss.

He was practically skipping with both excitement and nerves.

What if Kurt would be mad at him for outing them? He figured the best way to do it was to just say it out right.

"I told Santana about us."

Kurt's jaw dropped.

"You _what_? Why would you do that? She'll tell everyone-"

"No, she won't. Because she's in the same situation", Blaine said.

He watched as Kurt put the pieces together to finally get to the same conclusion as Blaine.

"Are you- are you saying she's gay?", he asked.

Blaine nodded.

"I saw her and her girlfriend at Valentine's and-"

"Why didn't you tell me?", Kurt interrupted.

"I promised her I wouldn't. They don't want anyone to know", Blaine said.

"Who is she seeing?"

"Your friend Brittany, from Ravenclaw."

Kurt's face lit up instantly.

"Ohh, she is? I always thought they looked so good together", he said. "How long have they been going out?"

"I don't know. I haven't really talked to her about it a lot", Blaine said.

Kurt got up from the desk.

"I'll go talk to Britt. Oh, I should have known they were dating, she's always talking about her", he said. Then he smiled that enchanting smile of his, and added, "So, we're on for tomorrow night then?"

Blaine smiled back.

"Yeah. Around eight?", he suggested.

"Sounds great."

Kurt planted a gentle kiss on Blaine's lips before smiling again and leaving the room.  
Blaine went over to the door and peered out to watch as Kurt left. There was a lump in his throat that he couldn't explain.

He didn't have anything else to do so he decided to head to the Quidditch pitch at once.

The grounds were rather dark and the only light came from the brightly lit castle. He turned around, shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at the Gryffindor Tower.

He didn't need to see through those windows high above him to know what went on in there. Kurt had told him hundreds of stories of all the fun things he and his friends did. Even though he mostly hung out with girls, who weren't really allowed in the boys' dormitories, he got along really well with his male friends too.

Blaine remembered one particular story in which Mike had attempted to climb the stairs to the girls' dormitories to see if his girlfriend Tina was ready yet, and the staircase had turned into a flat stone slide and he had lost his footing and went all the way down to the common room again and fallen onto the floor with a loud bang.  
Quickly after, five or six girls had come elegantly down the slide. They had all landed on their feet without as much as a sound.

Tina had tried to suffocate a laugh as she went to see if her boyfriend was okay. They kissed, their friends made that typical 'aawh'-sound, and they all went back to their own things again. That was just the way the Gryffindors acted. They laughed _together_, not at each other, and they helped each other out and supported one another.

A heavy sigh filled with sorrow escaped Blaine's mouth as he turned around and continued down the grass slope to the changing rooms.  
When was the last time he had been happy like the Gryffindors without Kurt nearby?

He couldn't really remember.

It was ridiculous but it hurt to know that Kurt was fine on his own, without Blaine. He was independent and he had all these amazing friends who loved him for who he was.

Blaine had great friends too. But he just felt like they had been drifting apart for a long time, and he couldn't help but envy Kurt's endless supply of friends. Everyone loved him. Blaine was still viewed as the insufferable Slytherin who bullied people for no reason, even though he hadn't done that for quite some time.

What if Kurt woke up one day and realised the differences between them were too great? Or what if he found someone better, more worthy? Or maybe he just stayed with Blaine because he pitied him? It wouldn't come as a surprise, because Kurt always put others before himself. Or what if-

He felt miserable and lonely. Dark thoughts clouded his mind, and deep down he knew he should be pushing them away, but instead he welcomed them and allowed them to weigh down on him and slowly push him towards the edge.

He reached the changing rooms and was relieved to escape the cold air outside.  
He kicked off his shoes and peeled off all his clothes.

He had over an hour before the practise, so he decided to take a relaxing shower. Maybe, if he got lucky, he would drown and get washed down into the drain along with the water.

"Damn, Blaine, what happened to you?", he mumbled to himself as he got into the shower and turned the water on.

He was too preoccupied to remember that the water hadn't warmed up yet, so he stepped in under it without a second thought. A number of curses escaped his lips as he jumped out again, wrapping his arms around himself to keep the little warmth he had left.

"You should swear more often. It's hot."

Blaine jumped and turned instinctively towards the door and, much to his surprise, found Kurt standing there.

"What- what are you-", he stuttered, fumbling desperately to reach his towel.

Kurt was thrown off track by the terrified expression on Blaine's face.

Blaine finally found his towel and wrapped it firmly around his waist. He didn't dare look at Kurt.

"I was just- what is up with you? Why are you acting so weird?", Kurt asked.

"I-", Blaine stuttered. He couldn't come up with a sensible reason for what he had just done. Why was he so reluctant for Kurt to see him naked? They had seen each other naked plenty of times before.

Kurt sighed.

"Finish your shower. I'll wait outside", he said and turned around to leave.

"Kurt, I-"

But he didn't know what to say, so he didn't finish the sentence.

He hung the towel on a hook on the wall, stepped into the shower and proceeded with his usual routine. He caught himself cleaning his hair three times. What the hell was wrong with him?  
Why was he so reluctant to talk to Kurt?

He turned the water off, got his towel off the wall and dried himself. His hair was as curly as ever, and it had fallen into his eyes. He didn't have the energy to do anything about it, so he just went out into the changing room again.

Kurt was sitting on the wooden bench, his legs crossed as always. He looked so beautiful it physically hurt to look at him.

Kurt turned his back on him as Blaine began to dress.

Blaine sighed. "Kurt, I'm sorry I was being weird. You don't have to look away."

Kurt reluctantly turned to him, probably still hurt by the reaction he had gotten earlier, and unintentionally gasped at the sight of Blaine in only his underwear. He should be used to it by now, but after all this time it still made him inexplicably happy.

It made Blaine smile slightly.

He pulled on his jeans and a t-shirt. He wouldn't put on the Quidditch robes until the rest of the team got there because they were so heavy and warm.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?", Kurt asked as Blaine settled down on the bench opposite of him.

He shrugged.

"I don't know. I've had a bad day, I was caught by surprise and I-", he drifted off. He could tell Kurt wasn't buying it.

"Having a bad day doesn't justify that behaviour. I'm your boyfriend, Blaine, and we've already had sex, remember? There's no need for you to be ashamed around me", Kurt said a little impatiently.

Blaine sighed and decided to tell the truth. Or at least a part of it.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just- I'm really confused today, and seeing you kind of triggered some self-defence mechanism and I- I honestly don't know what happened. It's just, I've been thinking about how my life would be if I would have been sorted into Gryffindor instead, and I can't stop thinking about it."

Kurt frowned.

"But that doesn't even make any sense. And you don't even like Gryffindor", he said.

"Because I'm a Slytherin. It's like the first rule they teach you when you get sorted. But I just can't stop thinking about how much happier I would have been as a Gryffindor."

"Are you that unhappy?", Kurt asked and went to sit next to him. He gently brushed the hair from Blaine's face and leaned in to kiss his temple.

"No... or, well, yeah. I don't know. It's all so confusing", Blaine sighed and leaned into Kurt's touch.

"But if you were a Gryffindor, your family would have transferred you to another school or something. So if you hadn't been in Slytherin, we wouldn't have each other now. So it must be worth it somehow, right?", Kurt said, watching Blaine's eyes in hope they would find his.

They didn't. Blaine just stared at his own hands.

"Sometimes I think it would have been better that way", he said finally. When Kurt didn't respond, he added, "If I had transferred."

Kurt could barely keep his tears from spilling over.

"Why?", he asked, barely more than a whisper.

"You would have been happier. It just feels like I'm weighing you down", Blaine mumbled.

Kurt was silent for a few seconds. Then he hit Blaine over the head with his hand, not too roughly but enough for him to stir.

Blaine yelped in surprise.

"I know you're not supposed to hit people when they're sad but oh my god, Blaine! If you ever say that I would be happier without you again, I'm going to hit you so hard you won't have a doubt left in that curly head of yours!"

Blaine almost smiled at that. Kurt was just so good at making him smile even when he was in his most miserable state.

"I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. Like, you have all these amazing friends and you would be so much better off with them instead of me. Because honestly, Kurt, you are so amazing and kind and so _Gryffindor_, like the embodiment of your house. And I'm just the same prejudice boy you met six years ago who refused to be your friend because I was scared. And I'm still scared, and I don't think I'll ever be brave enough for you. So, you know, maybe we should just- just go our separate ways and you could meet someone who deserves you and-"

He didn't get much further because Kurt interrupted him by pressing a finger against Blaine's lips.

He drew a shaky breath and locked his eyes with Kurt's.

"Do you know what I thought the first time I saw you?", Kurt asked quietly.

Blaine shook his head slightly, unable to look away from Kurt's hypnotizing eyes.

"I thought that you were the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. I saw you on the platform before we got on the train, and your mother was hugging you and you had this adorable blush on your face. And then you went onto the train with your brother and I could see the looks he gave you, and I thought you were so brave for not letting him get you down. And then you disappeared and I found my compartment, and a couple of minutes later you opened the door and asked if you could sit with me. Did you know that I actually lost my breath then? I was so preoccupied with admiring you that I barely understood what you were saying."

Kurt smiled at the memory.

"And you were so nice and polite, and then you told me about your family and that they wouldn't approve of our friendship, and I knew I should be offended but all I could think about was how much I hated seeing you sad and that I would have given anything to see you smile again. I thought you were so brave for questioning your childhood like that, I know I wouldn't have done that easily if the roles had been reversed. I just believe everything people tell me. But you don't. You think for yourself and you're perfect on your own, you don't need anyone to complete you. And you _are_ brave, Blaine, braver than anyone I know. I'm lucky to have you, and I know you don't think so, but it's true. And you're lucky to have me too, because I'm pretty damn amazing. But I wouldn't be so amazing without you, so please don't doubt us again, because I don't know what I would do if you left me. Okay?"

Blaine could barely resist reducing himself to a sobbing pile when Kurt finished his declaration of love. Instead he wrapped his arms around him and nuzzled into his neck.  
The smell of Kurt intoxicated him entirely and he already felt better.

It was stupid of him to be so self-conscious. Kurt must think he was good enough, otherwise they wouldn't be together, so why bother analysing it? If Kurt was happy, he was happy.

"I love you", he mumbled.

"I love you too", came the soft reply close to his ear.

Then they both heard the distant sound of voices approaching.

They both stiffened, and Blaine uttered his second series of curses for the day.

"What should we do?", Kurt asked, letting go of Blaine to look into his eyes.

"Bathroom", Blaine said and pulled Kurt up with him.

He opened the bathroom door and pushed him inside.  
He had barely closed the door behind them when the door to the changing rooms opened and the team came in, talking loudly about how they wished practise would be cut short.  
Blaine locked the door, even though his friends could easily unlock it with magic, and prayed that they would allow him his privacy.

"What if they find us?", Kurt breathed into his ear. He sounded just as terrified as Blaine felt.

"I don't know."

The bathroom was quite small and they were pressed up against each other. Despite the stressful situation, he found just how calming the warmth of Kurt's body was.

Fortunately, the team didn't even notice Blaine's absence or the fact that the bathroom was occupied.

They kept chatting casually while getting into the Quidditch robes. It only took about ten or fifteen minutes before they heard Santana's voice telling the team to come out onto the pitch.

There was a muffled sound of their feet over the floor, the door closing and then, finally, silence.

Kurt and Blaine remained in the bathroom for several minutes before Blaine dared to open the door slightly and peer out. It was empty, so he allowed Kurt to pass him.

Blaine had expected him to run out as soon as possible, but Kurt lingered, for some reason unwilling to go.

"What are you-", Blaine began, but got cut off as Kurt wrapped his arms firmly around his neck and went straight into a deep, passionate kiss that seemed to last for hours.

"Sorry, I just really needed to do that", he mumbled as they broke apart.

Blaine smiled and let one of his hands rise from Kurt's waist and into his hair.

"I don't mind", he said.

Both of them completely forgot about their location, and just as they were in the middle of another heated kiss, the door opened.

They both whipped around, terrified to death to find who had discovered them.  
The door closed, and Santana stood in front of them, her arms crossed and a smirk playing on her face.

"If you lover boys are done, I need you out on the pitch too", she said to Blaine.

They both blushed from the embarrassment of getting caught like that.

"I'll be right out", Blaine mumbled, still holding Kurt's waist tightly.

Santana slipped out through the smallest crack she could manage so no one out on the pitch would see into the changing room and discover Kurt.

"I'll go", Kurt said and kissed Blaine's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Blaine nodded and offered a sweet smile that made Kurt's knees weak.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow", he echoed.

Then Kurt went over to the door, opened it and disappeared out into the night.

Blaine sighed heavily. He hated parting from Kurt. It should have gotten easier over the years but it was just as painful now as every other time.

He pulled on his Quidditch robes and went out onto the pitch.

His lips still tasted like Kurt, and that's what kept him going through the training session that he was certain had been sent to him from the deepest depths of hell.


	5. Chapter 5

Not sure what I think about this chapter because I wrote it at like 3am or something and I only read through it a few times, lol.

* * *

"Your birthday is coming up."

It was a simple sentence, a simple statement.  
Yet those four words changed the entire atmosphere of the room.

Instead of the usual bedroom-inspired set the Room of Requirement had created for them, Kurt had asked for an endless green summer meadow with thousands of flowers.

Kurt was lying on his back on the soft grass, his fingers intertwined with Blaine's who was sitting next to him with Kurt's head in his lap.  
The (fake) sun was shining and it was just like they were outside the castle, out in public. At least that's what they liked to pretend.

But now Blaine had gone and ruined their perfect moment by bringing up Kurt's birthday.

"No, it isn't!", Kurt said irritably, resisting the urge to snatch his hand away from Blaine.

Blaine sighed.

"I don't understand what you have against birthdays. It's the best day of the year! Why aren't you excited?", he asked.

He placed Kurt's hand with his palm upwards and traced its lines with his finger.

"I just don't like birthdays. Please, don't make a big deal out if it", Kurt said.

"But it's your _birthday_! And I'm your boyfriend and-"

"You can't just assume you get to throw me a stupid party because you're my boyfriend. You use that term way too lightly. If you're not careful I'll revoke it!"

"-_and as your boyfriend_, it's my job to make you feel like the king of the world."

Kurt gave a frustrated groan and rolled around so he was on his stomach.

"Why are you being so difficult?", he asked and glared up at him through his eyelashes.

"Because I love my amazing boyfriend so much", Blaine said sweetly.

"But- that's- _Blaine_! You can't use that as an excuse to do whatever you want to do. I'm serious, I won't allow you to use the term boyfriend anymore if you're just going to use it to guilt me into things!"

Blaine pouted.

"I didn't do anything for your birthday last year, so why can't we just celebrate it _somehow_ this year? It's supposed to be special and magical and-"

"You are such a drama queen."

Blaine couldn't help but laugh at that, even though he actually was quite upset.

"Am _I _a drama queen?"

"Yes! Look, Blaine, why can't we just stay here and enjoy our day together and not spoil it with talk about my stupid birthday? It's not even _your_ birthday, so I don't understand why it's such a big deal", Kurt said.

"I don't understand why it _isn't_ a big deal for you! You're turning sixteen, Kurt, that should be celebrated", Blaine said seriously.

Kurt sat up and took Blaine's hand again.

"I don't want to celebrate my birthday, but I promise I'll do whatever you want to do when it's your birthday. Because I respect what you want. Okay?", he said.

Blaine couldn't argue with that.

"Yeah, alright", he sighed.

Kurt awarded him with a slow, tender kiss before laying down on his back again, his head resting comfortably in Blaine's lap.

Kurt smoothly turned the conversation around and started reciting the previous nights Quidditch practice.

"I've never flown in that much rain before, and you know what wind does to my hair. Just multiply that with like a hundred when it's raining too", Kurt said and rolled his eyes.

"I like your hair when it's raining", Blaine said softly.

Kurt looked up at him and couldn't resist the urge to laugh as the image of Blaine's own hair in rain appeared in his mind.

Blaine seemed to realize what he was thinking, and smiled along with him.

"Yeah, it's nothing compared to mine", he said.

"But your hair is at least funny and it actually looks great. My hair is just a disaster", Kurt said.

Now it was Blaine's turn to roll his eyes, although Kurt couldn't see it because he had looked away again. It strained too much on his neck to keep glancing up at his boyfriend, although the view was probably worth the discomfort anyway.

"You don't really believe that, though. Do you?"

"What? That my hair is a disaster or that yours looks good?", Kurt asked.

"Both."

"Of course I do."

Blaine sighed.

"Well, let's just hope it doesn't rain this Saturday, because this game will be difficult as it is. I don't need more distractions that take away my focus", he said.

"Oh, right, it's your big game on Saturday! Are you nervous?", Kurt asked.

"Yeah, of course. Everything depends on whether I success or not", Blaine said, somewhat heavily.

The pressure of it all was really getting to him.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be amazing as always. Just don't over think it. Go with your instincts", Kurt said, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

Blaine had a tendency to pay more attention to Kurt's body language than to his actual words.

"It's just- what if they catch the Snitch first? I know I'm good but I'm not sure I'm better than her", he said hesitantly.

"Blaine, honestly, you have to believe more in yourself. Rachel is great, but you're much better. And even if you don't win, we can just throw you a pity party and drink hot chocolate all night and I can sing you to sleep or recite the entire story of Aladdin for you."

Blaine laughed softly. Kurt really knew how to cheer him up.

"Not that I think we'll have to take such strong measures. You'll do great", Kurt said and beamed up at him.

Blaine smiled back.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just nervous", he said.

But then Kurt sat up, moved up onto his lap, and wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck, and suddenly all thoughts of Quidditch and the Snitch was blown out of his mind.

* * *

Saturday morning came much earlier than Blaine would have preferred.

He didn't even know how it happened, but suddenly he found himself getting into his Quidditch robes, throwing his racing broom over his shoulder and marching out onto the pitch with his team.

He felt out of shape and not at all ready to face such an important game.

He just wished his team mates performed better than him so they would win even if the other team caught the Snitch. Unlikely. That meant the Slytherin had to lead with at least 150 points when Rachel caught the Snitch, and that rarely happened.

He just needed to pull himself together and catch it.

All the players rose into the air, and he immediately spotted Rachel on the other side of the pitch.  
She flew above the other players to get a better look at the entire pitch. He copied her and rose to the same level as her.

He noticed just how out of his game he was when he almost got hit by the same Bludger twice.

He closed his eyes for a few moments in an attempt to gather all his energy and try to focus it on the game. When he opened them again, his gaze fell on the crowds below. He immediately spotted Kurt, who was one of the very few outside of Slytherin who seemed excited when Santana suddenly scored.

He jumped up and clapped, and Blaine could see his friends pulling him down into his seat again. By the look of them they were ashamed of the fact that he rooted for their enemies.

Butterflies emerged in his stomach and they fluttered around like crazy.

Then Kurt looked up and their gazes met, all the way across the pitch.  
He gave a small encouraging smile. It wasn't much, and no one noticed it other than Blaine.

But it gave him that small rush of adrenaline that he needed. He needed to do something. Anything. Either catch the Snitch, or confuse Rachel, or just get a look of the pitch from a different angle.

He tilted his broom slightly downwards and zoomed against the ground. Rachel didn't follow him. She must have seen through his scam, and he was actually really lucky that she had, because just as he was about to return to his previous height, a flash of gold went past his right ear.  
He snapped his head in its direction, trying hard to relocate it. And there it was, floating in front of him, just out of reach. He could hear the swishing of brooms and robes, and he guessed it was Rachel coming to fight him for the Snitch. He didn't have much time.

He launched forward, his hand stretched out as far as possible. But the Snitch eluded him and changed direction quicker than him. He turned his broom around and raced after it.

Why couldn't he just for once catch it without the whole super intense chase?

But that was the fun of it, he supposed.

He inched closer and closer to it, gaining on it slowly. But then Rachel came up next to him, and a Bludger came out of nowhere that they both had to avoid. She dived and he just ducked his head and kept flying forwards, with the result of being merely inches away from getting hit by the furious ball. It did give him a few seconds advantage though, and as Rachel had regained her height again, he was ahead of her.

But the Snitch was gone. Just like that.

He groaned and stopped his broom mid-air. Rachel almost flew into him.

"You lost it?", she shouted to him.

He gave her his nastiest glare before turning around and flying in the opposite direction.

He didn't know why he couldn't behave nicer around people. Of course people thought he was an idiot if he treated everyone as bad as he treated Rachel just now, but he just couldn't help it sometimes. He knew she had just been kidding, but he still had to take it as if she had screamed something really terrible to him.  
And then his gaze fell on Kurt again, who was laughing with his friends in the stands.

One of his friends leaned over to kiss his cheek, and he pretended to faint and fall off his seat. Then he straightened up with one of his brightest smiles.

It sent a jolt through Blaine's stomach. It wasn't that Kurt was happy without him, that just made him happy too. Or at least that's what he told himself. No, it was more a question of jealousy towards the girl who had so easily leant forward and kissed his cheek. It was all friendly, but if Blaine had done that, with the most friendly intention, there had been a riot. He just wished things were different.

He turned away from Kurt and focused on the game again. He was just too distracting.

In fact, he was so distracting that Blaine turned back to him once more.

"Just one more glance, then I'll behave", he promised himself.

And then he saw it. Again.

The Snitch was hovering right over the heads of Kurt and his friends.

"If that's not a sign, then I don't know what is", he muttered as he shot through the air again.

Kurt had turned his attention to him now, as had the rest of the student body, and some of the Gryffindors shrieked as they thought he was going to crash into them.

But he did a neat stop right in front of them. Right in front of Kurt, actually.  
His eyes were widened to the extreme. And just as Blaine was going to stretch out his hand and grab the Snitch, a Bludger came out of nowhere.

He could see Kurt's mouth moving in an attempt to warn him before he even felt the hit.

It all went in slow motion.

It went straight to his outstretched hand, and hit it with incredible force.

Kurt, along with some other viewers, clasped his hands to his mouth.

Blaine didn't make a sound. He barely felt the hit, because he was so focused on 1), the way Kurt was looking at him and 2), the Snitch that was trying to escape. There wasn't any time for decision making, so he just went with his gut.

Instead of signalling to Santana for a break to check out his injury, he let go of his broom with his unharmed hand and leapt to the side and closed his fingers around the struggling golden ball.

He was just about to fall to the ground, Snitch firmly in his hand, when he just... didn't.

In confusion, he looked around to see what the hell was going on, and saw that Kurt was holding his wand in his trembling hands, frantically whispering some spell that obviously was keeping him in the air. Within seconds Sebastian had come to his aid and Blaine was back on his own broom stick.

He, and the rest of the spectators, still hadn't quite grasped what had happened, but then the Slytherin crowd broke into a deafening roar. They had won.

Mercedes declared the game over in the speakers.

Blaine's entire body felt weak and the pain in his hand suddenly hit him.

Sebastian threw his arm around him when they landed and held him up steady.

He hadn't felt this empty of energy for a long time. Everything was just a blur.  
He could tell the crowds had spilled out onto the pitch and Slytherin supporters where patting his back from every angle.  
And then he spotted Kurt through the crowd. He was the only thing that wasn't blurred at all.

He caught Blaine's eye and smiled, like they usually did in situations like these.

But that wasn't enough for Blaine today. Maybe he was high on success, or just lost in pain, but he broke free of Sebastian's grasp and half-limped, half-walked up to Kurt. He just knew he had to thank him. Who knew how damaged he would have been if he had fallen from that height?

Kurt still looked scared from said averted fall. He didn't know what to do as Blaine approached.

"Anderson, what are you-", he began.

They had made a habit out of calling each other by their surnames in public. It made them seem less friendly.

But this time Blaine just shook his head, and Kurt's tense shoulder dropped in surprise.

"No?", he mouthed.

"Kurt, I- you saved me."

Kurt couldn't even response before Blaine has wrapped his arms around his neck, pressing their lips together in a sloppy, passionate manner. His hand throbbed painfully, but he ignored it determinedly.

Kurt didn't even hesitate before he threw his arms around Blaine's waist to pull him even closer.

His lips parted automatically to allow Blaine's tongue inside.

Neither of them paid any attention to the people around them until they had parted, but only to inhale some oxygen before they crashed together again into unawareness.

Soon there was something tugging on Blaine's sleeve, prodding him for attention.

He let go of Kurt's bottom lip and turned around, irritated of whoever destroyed their moment.

He could feel Kurt's ragged hot breath against the sensitive skin around his neck. It sent a shiver down his spine.

The one tugging him away from Kurt was – surprise, surprise – Sebastian.

"What the fuck are you doing?", he spluttered.

The entire Slytherin team had gathered around, and the majority of the audience was still there too. They all stared at the two boys.

"Celebrating", Blaine said, rather breathlessly.

He glanced at Kurt to see if he would be okay with outing them. Not that they had much to choose from now that Blaine had practically jumped him in public.

Kurt caught his eye and pulled him a little closer.

"Mm, we're really _gay_ for each other", he said with a wink.

"That's _disgusting_", Sebastian said.

Blaine knew it should make him feel embarrassed or at least exposed, but it really didn't. He had Kurt by his side, and that evened it out.

"Well, I won't change in the same room as him."

It was Sebastian again.

This was what Blaine had been dreading about coming out. He would surely be kicked off the team.

But then Santana appeared next to him.

"Great job", she told him.

Blaine smiled back at her hesitantly. "Thanks, Santana."

"Santana, I won't cha-", Sebastian began again.

"Captain", she said coldly. When he frowned, she added, "You should call me Captain."

"Uh, yeah, alright. _Captain,_ you have to kick him off th-"

"Why? Because he's been making out with lady lips here? Sorry, I'm bored with this conversation already", she said and rolled her eyes. She was wearing that typical Santana-smirk that too clearly told everyone that if they messed with her, they would get into some real trouble.

"But he's _gay-_"

Blaine could see Santana's eyes darting to Brittany, who stood not too far away, and then back to Sebastian who looked shocked beyond belief.

"I'm sorry if you want to make out with him too, maybe the three of you can arrange some deal. Now, _if you excuse me_, I'll go celebrate with my girl", she said and winked at Brittany, who smiled and went over to her. Santana kissed her full on the lips before linking their pinkies together and tugging her away from the crowd.

Sebastian was blushing like a mad man. Maybe there was some truth to what Santana had only joked about.

"I'll drop out!", Sebastian called after her. He turned around to his other team mates for support, but no one stepped forward. At the end of the day, they'd rather play Quidditch with a gay kid than lose their spot on the team.

Santana noticed the lack of support in her team showed Sebastian and turned around to face him with a falsely sweet smile.

"And we'll miss you _so _much."

Then she and Brittany left without another word.

The crowd thinned out. People glared at the two boys, who were still holding onto each other, but no one made any further comments.

Blaine was positively surprised.

He hadn't been punched in the face, he was still Seeker, Santana had defended him and come out of the closet at the same time, and now he could kiss Kurt whenever he wanted to.

He didn't feel quite as dizzy now, and he had found new energy in that kiss.

"Sorry for doing that without talking to you about it, I just couldn't-"

Kurt interrupted him by pressing their lips together again.

"Don't apologise. It was very romantic", he said and smiled.

Blaine smiled too.

"But aren't you worried about your family?", Kurt asked nervously.

Blaine shrugged.

"They would have found out sooner or later. Besides, Terry doesn't even go here anymore so he won't tell on me and my friends here don't have any contact with my parents so they won't even know. I can just tell them when I'm ready", he said.

Kurt nodded. Then he blushed.

"I've already told my stepmom about you", he said.

Blaine's jaw dropped.

"You did? Finn's mom? But didn't she tell him?", he asked.

"No, I told her not to. We're really close, and I needed to tell someone so I told her", Kurt said. "She hasn't met you yet, but she seemed really happy for me when I described you to her. She said that you sounded like a very nice boy and that I shouldn't let you go."

Blaine giggled, which made Kurt pretend to faint as he had done earlier. Then he kissed him multiple times.

"Do you know just how adorable you are?", he asked and touched the tip of Blaine's nose. "But even if you're adorable, dont _ever_ scare me like that again."

He was, of course, referring to how Blaine had leapt off his broom to get to the Snitch even though it meant he would fall helplessly to the ground.

Blaine blushed. "Sorry."

Kurt smiled. Then he intertwined his fingers with Blaine's undamaged ones and tugged on him to make him follow.

"Forget about that, and let's go celebrate!", he said. But then he stopped dead, and frowned. "But no, you should be with your friends. It's because of you that you won, you have to go celebrate with your friends."

"I'd rather be with you", Blaine argued.

"But you can't just break ties with them", Kurt said.

Blaine rolled his eyes.

"You saw Sebastian's reaction. We'll hardly be friends after this, so what's the point of going there just to be miserable when I could be with you. You promised me hot chocolate, after all", Blaine said with a slight pout.

Kurt surrendered at that.

"Okay. Come on then", he said.

They went to the Slytherin changing rooms so that Blaine could change out of his Quidditch robes. He took a quick shower, during which Kurt sat outside in the changing room and improvised songs of how he wished his curly boyfriend would shower faster.

When Blaine was all done and dressed again, with a little help from Kurt as his hand was still terribly sore, they went to the Room of Requirement as usual.

Even though they could go anywhere in the castle now, that was still the place that fitted them the best. How lame wouldn't their celebration be if they had it in the library?

But they did take advantage of their new freedom by exchanging deep, long kisses all the way from the changing rooms and up to the seventh floor. At one point Blaine was so overwhelmed by his love for Kurt that he pressed him up against the closest wall, only to discover it was a false wall that sent them both tumbling to the floor. They lay there for a while, just laughing at how silly they were.

It was like falling in love all over again. Then Kurt remember Blaine's injury, and forced him to go to the hospital wing to get checked out before they went to the Room of Requirement. They were there for about half an hour. As Kurt waited for him to get something for the pain, he improvised another song of how he had a really intense craving for some strawberry pie but how he wouldn't have time to eat it because they would be stuck in the hospital wing the entire night.

When they finally made it up to the Room of Requirement after another detour (this time to the kitchens to get celebratory food and drinks), Kurt was giggling so much he could barely breathe.

"You know what, I changed my mind", he said as they entered the room.

"About what?", Blaine asked and fell down backwards onto the usual four-poster bed.

"About my birthday. If you still want to celebrate it, I could agree to a _small _celebration. Like a picnic or something", he said.

Blaine leapt to his feet, too stunned to believe what he had just heard.

"Are you _sure_? I don't want you to feel forced into anything-"

"I'm sure. But nothing extraordinary, okay? Just a simple day together. Although, I must warn you, I'll want my other friends there too", Kurt said.

"Of course! Oh, what made you change you mind?", Blaine asked, overly excited.

"Well, I just really want a nice day with all of my friends and my boyfriend all together, and I couldn't have that until now so I figured I would just pretend it wasn't my birthday at all. But now we can all celebrate together", Kurt said.

Blaine beamed at him.

"I'm really glad. I love planning these things", he said.

Kurt's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Blaine, control yourself. Nothing extraordinary", he repeated.

Blaine nodded absent-mindedly, already going through ideas in his mind.

Kurt sighed.

"Alright, I'll just hope you can control yourself to some extent at least", he said.

But then Blaine began mumbling about "a thousand white doves", so Kurt thought it best to completely change the subject. It was the effect of the painkillers, he decided.


	6. Chapter 6

Despite Kurt's constant reminders of how he had really meant it when he said he only wanted a small celebration, Blaine went full out in his planning for Kurt's birthday. Kurt caught him several times during the next week in the hallways, whispering mysteriously with people and then shutting up when Kurt approached. It deeply unsettled him.

So the day before his birthday, he decided to once and for all make sure Blaine didn't have anything overly dramatic planned. They were still getting used to being together in public, and a big birthday extravaganza wasn't something he needed right now.

They had just finished dinner, at their respective tables, and the majority of the student body was filing out through the big doors.

Kurt found Blaine's curly head in the crowd, and had to take a little too firm hold of him as to not lose him again.

"We need to talk!", he said loudly to overpower the chatter around them.

Blaine gave him a quick peck on the lips as a greeting before taking his hand and leading him away through the crowd.

Kurt could see Sebastian give him a loathing glare as Blaine turned to him to say he would be right back.

After the outing of Kurt and Blaine's relationship, but also Brittany and Santana's, Sebastian had seemingly decided not to cause any more trouble. He wanted to remain on the team, and quite frankly he wanted to keep Blaine as a friend, so he tried his best to block out Kurt's presence whenever he came up to them to talk to Blaine.

It still felt a little weird to kiss Blaine in front of people, and Kurt had to remind himself constantly that it was okay for them to do that now. It was nice, and they really took advantage of it.

"What's on your mind?", Blaine said sweetly as they had escaped the worst crowd.

"I want to know what you've got planned for tomorrow", Kurt demanded.

"Ah, but then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?", Blaine winked.

Kurt just rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't have to _be_ a surprise. I _hate_ surprises! Just tell me, I'm kind of freaking out", he said.

But Blaine refused to divulge even the smallest detail of what he had planned.

Kurt played all his tricks to try and convince him to give it up, but nothing worked. It ended with Kurt storming off, in a very Rachel-like way, with a promise of 'no kisses for a week'.

But Blaine wasn't too worried. In fact, he was in an unusually good mood. Things were going great for once. He and Kurt were out and proud, for good this time, and he got to show everyone just how proud he was of Kurt. And tomorrow it was Kurt's birthday and they would be celebrating it together, with their friends. Or well, Kurt's friends. But they were much nicer to Blaine now that the two of them were officially dating, which was more than you could say about Blaine's friends who were even more loathing towards Kurt than usual. The difference was that they didn't dare show it as much in front of Blaine anymore.

Things were certainly going great. Kurt's no-kiss-threat didn't bother him either. He never kept those for long.

The only thing that really clouded Blaine's mind was the fact that they would be leaving for summer holiday soon, which meant months without Kurt. And that was something he _really _didn't look forward to.

* * *

And so came the Day with a big D. Kurt's birthday, the 27th of May.

Blaine had insisted on them spending the night before in the Room of Requirement.

Kurt woke up somewhere around 10pm. He was a little surprised at this, because he had half-expected Blaine to wake him up at a minute past midnight and demand them to go out partying.

He woke with a very nice feeling. He felt slightly uneasy because it was his birthday after all, but having Blaine's warm body next to him was so cozy and comfortable he couldn't bring himself to sulk over his age.

A thousand soft, tender kisses all over his face and neck welcomed him to the waken state.

He giggled like crazy when Blaine moved up to his right ear and nibbled softly on his earlobe.

"Blaine!", he laughed and pushed him away.

"Morning sunshine", came the response, along with a grin.

Kurt looked into those warm hazel eyes and couldn't help but beam. This birthday might not be so bad after all.

He wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist and nuzzled into his neck, taking in his scent for future storage. But then he realised that he didn't have to do that anymore. He usually had to print in everything about Blaine into his head when they parted as he wouldn't get to see him for another week; the feeling of Blaine's hands on him, the taste of his lips, the scent that was particularly strong on the sensitive skin on his neck. But now he could just go up to him in the hallways whenever he felt like it and refresh his memory.

Oh, well, that doesn't stop me from enjoying it as much as I can anyway, he thought to himself and took in another Blaine-scented breath.

But then Blaine pressed a kiss to his temple and untangled himself from his boyfriend.

"No, wait, where are you going?", Kurt asked, too aware of the fifth-year-old that came across way too clearly in his voice.

Then he noticed that Blaine was fully dressed, whilst Kurt was just wearing boxers and a t-shirt.

"You're dressed", he pointed out.

Blaine just smiled at him.

"Yeah. Bummer, huh? Wait here, I'll be right back", he said and blew him a kiss.

Kurt settled in beneath the covers again, and tried not to freak out. He hated this part of birthdays; the waiting, the uncertainty. And knowing Blaine, just about anything could happen today.

Kurt loved planning these things for other people, especially surprises, but he couldn't stand them himself. He wanted to know what he was wearing, where he was going and just what he could expect. Not knowing _anything_ almost made him go nuts.

He was just about to leave the bed and go looking for Blaine when the door opened again and all of the sudden all he could see was just a blur and, replacing that delicious scent that was Blaine, was perfume and hairspray and-

"_Girls!_", he practically squealed as a number of arms wrapped around him, kisses pressing against his cheeks and voices crying out congratulations.

The first one he got a hold on was Rachel, who beamed at him and looked like she was almost on the verge of tears.

"Congrats, Kurt! Ohh, you're _sixteen _now! I'm so proud of you, you've grown so much!"

And then there was another attack of hugs and hasty kisses on the cheek.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud as he tried to calm all of his friends, making them sit down around him in a circle.

They were all dressed really nicely, he noticed. Even Rachel, who sometimes had trouble in the clothing department, was wearing a really pretty dress. He noted that she was wearing the same dress that he had told Blaine suited her so well a few weeks earlier. He suspected Blaine had a hand in her dressing today.

"What are you doing here?", he asked, looking around at all of them.

There was Rachel and Quinn, Mercedes and Tina, Brittany and- wait, was that Santana? She didn't look quite as excited as the rest, but her pinky was linked with Brittany's and she didn't seem to_ hate_ being there either. It warmed his heart.

"It's your birthday, silly! Did you think we'd let Blaine have you all to himself?", Rachel said and poked him in the side.

"Speaking of Blaine – where is he?", Kurt asked and craned his neck to see over their heads.

"I don't know, he said something about running an errand", Tina said.

He obviously didn't hide the disappointment well, because Mercedes was suddenly comforting him and telling him Blaine would be back soon.

Of course he knew that. He wasn't _that_ boyfriend-dependent. Still he kept glancing over to the door as the conversation continued on.

After almost forty minutes, the door opened again and Blaine came in. He was _stunning_.

His hair was curly as ever, his beautiful hazel were glittering with excitement and his mouth was strained into a slightly awkward but nonetheless gorgeous smile.

They had kissed in front of their friends of course, but just quickly without that much tongue. And never in a closed area like this.

Rachel closed her mouth when she heard him enter, and exchanged a few knowing looks with her female friends.

"Guess we should go then", she said and winked at Kurt, who blushed, aware of how fanboyish he had reacted to Blaine's entrance.

"Oh, no, you can stay", Blaine said sweetly. "I just wanted to stop by and make sure you weren't smothering poor Kurt."

This received some laughs, along with a confused comment from Brittany who didn't understand what smother meant. Santana calmed her with a soft kiss on her cheek.

"You're leaving?", Kurt asked, trying to ignore the looks he got from his friends.

Blaine's eyes locked on his, and he smiled reassuringly.

"Yeah, I have to fix a few things for- for later. You just have fun, okay?", he said.

Kurt's eyes narrowed.

"What's happening later?", he asked, putting as much emphasis on the last word as he could.

Blaine grinned.

"You'll see. It'll be _spectacular._"

That sentence sent Kurt's mind into a loop of possible ideas Blaine could have for the day, each idea weirder and more overly dramatic than the previous. He was terrified that Blaine would have some super complex thing planned out that would take place in front of the entire school.

Yes, Kurt was very proud to call Blaine his boyfriend and he loved him more than anything, but he wasn't ready for a statement that huge yet. They had only been official boyfriends for a week. He really just wanted a quiet birthday. Just like when he woke up he just wanted to spend the day in bed, drifting in and out of sleep whilst having Blaine's warm body next to him.

But no, he would surely be forced into some overly romantic setting where they would slow dance in front of the whole school and then Blaine would dip him and they would kiss, and someone would make a comment about how disgusting they were and everything would be ruined.

He just didn't want to be afraid of those things. Not today.

But to be honest, it was kind of hard to worry about anything when Blaine looked at him like that, those eyes so filled with love and trust, a constant promise that Blaine would never hurt him.

Then Blaine broke Kurt's train of thought and took a few quick steps to the bed and leaned in for what started off as a sweet peck of lips, but grew into a full-out, tongue-filled heated kiss. When they reluctantly let go of each other, they were both light-headed. Santana made a noise that sounded like something in between a whistle and a cat call.

"Have fun", Blaine said, landing another, much softer, kiss on Kurt's lips before smiling at his friends and leaving.

Kurt was left with the endless stream of questions that followed that steamy kiss.

His friends had politely backed off until now. They hadn't asked a lot of questions or blamed him for not telling them about his secret relationship earlier, but that bliss was over now.

The only one who didn't seem interested was Santana, who had other things on her mind as she couldn't keep her eyes off of Brittany's lips.

"How long were you dating before you came out?"

"Have you _you know_ yet?"

"Do you love him? Does he love you?"

"Who made the first move?"

And then Brittany felt the need to ask the question, "If you had sex, then why aren't you pregnant?"

"Because he's a boy, Britt", Santana said. It was second-nature to her to correct Brittany's misunderstandings. Not that she complained. It was one of the things she loved most about Brittany.

Kurt answered all their questions as truthfully as he could, although he didn't reveal any specifics about their love life because that was just between him and Blaine.

But he did confirm that Blaine was a _terrific_ kisser.

Once that topic was drained out, they asked him what he wanted to do for the day.

"I don't know. It's just, um, Blaine told me he'd plan today and I don't know what he expects me to do now", Kurt said.

It was humiliating how much he sounded like the needy little boy who couldn't do anything without his strong confident boyfriend by his side. But, he told himself, the roles would be reversed when it was Blaine's turn to turn a year older.

"Well, he said he'll be gone most of the afternoon so I guess we can do whatever you'd like", Tina said.

Kurt nodded. Then he lit up as he realised just what he wanted to do with the upcoming hours.

"I want to-"

"-maybe we should have picnic by the lake! Oh, sorry Kurt, what were you saying?"

It was Rachel who had come up with the idea.

Kurt pulled her into a tight, long hug.

"You know me so well", he beamed when he let go.

The girls went down to the kitchens to get food for their little picnic, and Kurt took the opportunity to get dressed. He figured he wouldn't dress up too much just for a picnic, so he chose a tight-fitting pair of black jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt with button-ups and a silver bow tie that would sparkle in the sun.  
The girls came back only after a few minutes with a basket filled to the brim with food.

"Honestly, does Blaine even have flaws?", Santana asked and rolled her eyes.

"What about him?", Kurt asked.

"He must have read our minds or something, because we hadn't even asked the house elves for anything before they had shoved this", she held up the basket, "in our hands and told us that a certain curly-headed Slytherin had been by and placed the order."

Kurt felt a flutter somewhere in his stomach.

Blaine knew him better than anyone.


	7. Chapter 7

I honestly don't know what's gotten into me! It usually takes me forever to finish a chapter but this story just writes itself.

* * *

It was a little tricky to leave the Room of Requirement with the girls because even after coming out, both Blaine and Kurt wanted it to be their safe space where they could have at least some of their dates and so on. And it was the only place where they could both sleep in the same bed, because of their being in different Houses, so they met there almost as often as before they went official.

So Kurt didn't understand why Blaine had brought his friends _there_. Now their hideout was ruined. But then Mercedes said that Blaine had taken them there practically blindfolded, so they had no idea where they were or how to get into the room. They just knew it existed.

So Kurt ushered them all out, closed the door and made them close their eyes as he dragged them along to the staircase. Once on the sixth floor he allowed them to open their eyes so they could walk on their own.

Brittany and Santana carried the, by the look of them, heavy basket between them and Kurt and Rachel lead them to the spot by the lake where they usually had their "girl talks" when they didn't want to be disturbed.

It was a beautiful, warm May day. The sun was shining and there was a gentle wind blowing through Kurt's hair, the grass was soft and across the lake he could see a deer escape into the woods.

The lake was glittering in the sunlight and it was really breathtakingly beautiful.

He immediately thought of the first time he ever met Blaine, and the boat ride across the lake where the lights from the castle had reflected in the pitch-black lake.  
That had been even more beautiful. Especially as he had felt Blaine's eyes on him the entire time.

Tina pulled out a black-and-red checkered blanket and spread it out across the grass.  
They all settled down on it and began rummaging through the enormous picnic basket.

It had just about everything one could ask for.

Both red and green grapes, bottles of sparkling water and non-alcoholic cider, fancy plastic glasses in different colours (Kurt chose the light blue one), sandwiches with all kinds of spreads, chocolate bars that were charmed to not melt in the sun, cheese and crackers, exotic fruits and, well, just _everything. _They were all starving and willingly dug in on all the food spread out across the blanket.

They chatted casually between mouthfuls, refilling each others glasses every now and then.

Kurt felt really, really happy. It was so easy-going and casual, and he had such amazing friends. He really felt blessed. He had laid down on his back in the grass, his eyes closed against the sun.

But then again, no matter how much he loved his friends, he did miss Blaine. What was he doing anyway?  
Right. Planning the evening.

And so began the ruthless rambling in his head again, twisting and turning every word Blaine had uttered the past weeks in hope of finding some clue to what he could expect. But he couldn't get to a conclusion, which deeply annoyed him.

But just as he was going to sit up and ask his friends what they thought Blaine had planned, he realised that they were giggling like mad and he had been too busy with his own thoughts to realise.  
His mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"What is it?", he asked self-consciously. "Do I have something on my face?"

But then he realised they weren't even looking at him, but at something behind him.

So he turned his head, and literally felt his jaw drop.

Blaine was strolling towards them over the grass slope, hands behind his back and his gaze casually up in the clouds.

He was- dear mother of god, he was wearing a dress. A bubblegum pink, fluffy dress with ribbons on it.

And despite the fact that the colour didn't really suit him, he still looked _gorgeous._

The normalised reaction to the sight of your boyfriend wearing a dress would probably be to ask what the hell they were doing, but Kurt wasn't like the norm. He was slightly taken aback at first, but as he watched Blaine make his way towards them, he just thought of how lucky he was to have such a courageous and beautiful boyfriend.

Kurt was just about to run up to him and kiss him, with the entire school watching them, when somewhere in the distance he heard someone calling his name.

"Kurt! Kurt! Hey, are you _sleeping_?"

And so he woke with a start, looking up into Rachel's face as she towered over him.

"We're celebrating here, remember!", she said and pulled him up, and shoved a glass of cider in his hand.

Kurt looked around in complete confusion, searching for Blaine and the pink dress.

"But- where's- where's Blaine?", he stuttered.

"He's not here, silly! He's running errands, remember?", Rachel reminded him.

And that's when it fully hit Kurt that it had just been a dream, probably inflicted upon him by the hot sun. He should have known. It wasn't uncommon for him to hallucinate if he spent to much time in direct sunlight.

He burst into a fit of hysterical giggling, causing him to roll around a bit on the grass.

His friends were completely perplexed as to what he was doing.

When he had finally gotten himself together enough to speak, he told them all about the hallucination in which Blaine had been wearing a pink dress.

"Kurt, your imagination is out of control", Mercedes laughed as he wiped away a tear of laughter. "But how did you react? Weren't you a little freaked out? I mean, yeah, people should wear whatever they want and so on but still-"

"I didn't care, really. And honestly, he looked really hot in a dress too so I wouldn't mind if it actually happened either", Kurt said.

His friends did look at him as though he was crazy, and most people probably would have.

But fact is fact: Blaine is Blaine, and Kurt loves Blaine. His clothing doesn't change that.

Yeah, if Blaine had come to the realisation that he wanted to be a girl instead, things might have gone a little differently. Because Kurt considered himself to be 100% gay. But, still, it was _Blaine._ So even if he had changed his sex, Kurt might have stayed with him anyway. Because love is love.

He caught himself wondering what he would name Blaine if he _did_ go through a sex change.  
He decided on Blair.

Just as they were all discussing the dream, or hallucination, Tina quieted them all down and pointed over Kurt's shoulder.

Just as in the hallucination, Blaine was slowly strolling towards them down the grass slope.

But instead of a pink dress he was wearing a _very_ expensive looking suit, matched with a sparkling bow tie that Kurt had gotten him for Christmas the previous year. It matched Kurt's own.

As usual, Kurt was blown away. The sight of him was just so surrealistically beautiful.  
The sun hitting the bow tie and making it glow, Blaine's wide smile, his hands buried in the pockets of the black dress pants he was wearing.

Kurt didn't even care that he was staring. That was _his_ boyfriend.

"Hi", Blaine said softly as he came within talking distance.

"Hi", Kurt replied weakly, never leaving Blaine's outfit with his eyes.

"You like it?", he asked and did a small twirl for him.

Kurt rolled his eyes, although it wasn't nearly as convincing at it usually was.

"You are gorgeous", he said.

"Why thank you, sir", Blaine smiled and sat down next to him, careful to sit only on the blanket so his suit didn't get stained by the grass.

Rachel handed him a glass of cider, too shocked to speak.

They were all rather taken aback with Blaine's beauty. He was always this beautiful to Kurt, but he had never seen his friends look so admiringly at him as well.

It was Santana who broke the silence.

"Kurt had this really weird hallucination where you wore a pink dress."

Blaine almost choked on the cider he had just taken a sip of.

But instead of getting offended or upset, like most guys they knew would, he just turned to Kurt with a smirk.

"And how did I look?", he asked.

"Great as always. Although you might want to wear a different colour if you ever feel like trying on a dress again", Kurt said calmly, a smile playing in the corner of his mouth.

"I'll remember that."

Blaine smiled, laughed a little at the image Kurt painted for him of him in a dress, and then helped himself to some grapes. He popped one into his mouth, and then took another one and fed it to Kurt.

When they looked up, the girls were staring at them.

Mercedes shook her head.

"You two are the only ones I know who would react like that", she said incredulously.

Blaine shrugged, picked up another grape and offered it to Kurt who opened his mouth to accept.

"I think it's boring that guys can't wear dresses without getting lots of hate. I mean, yeah, I'm not comfortable in dresses, mostly because my legs look horrible-"

"There's nothing wrong with your legs, mister."

"-but I don't see why guys with nice legs and who like dresses can't throw one on and rock it like you girls can."

And with that they dropped the conversation.

They sat there for another hour, chatting about small things and eating almost everything that the house elves had packed for them.

"Should we get going?", Blaine asked Kurt, after Brittany had just finished a story of how she suspected her cat was dating an owl.

"Oh, sure", Kurt said. He was getting nervous again.

"Are you staying, or should we help clean up?", Blaine asked as they both got up.

"No, it's fine, we'll take care of it. You boys have fun", Mercedes said with a wink.

Then they all hugged Kurt and congratulated him again, and even Blaine got hugged goodbye.

"You be nice to him, or I'll hunt you down", Mercedes said playfully when they hugged, although Blaine sensed the sincerity in her words.  
He smiled.

Then Kurt intertwined their fingers, gave a final wave to his friends and gently tugged Blaine with him up to the castle again.

"That was really nice", he said and stopped for a second to kiss Blaine's cheek. "Thank you."

"And now for the finale", Blaine said with a wink.

The knot in Kurt's stomach made itself present again.

Blaine must have felt him tense up, because he rubbed soothing circles on his hand with his thumb.

"Don't worry, you're going to love it. At least I hope so. Anyway, it's not dangerous", he said.

Kurt glanced at Blaine's oh-so-proper outfit, and suddenly realised he himself was way under-dressed.

When he expressed these concerns, Blaine just laughed.

"You know, the main difference between us is that you don't even need to dress up to be absolutely gorgeous. And you won't need a suit for what we're doing anyway. I just put this on to see the look on your face when I make an effort", he explained.

Kurt thought back at how shamelessly overwhelmed he had been by seeing Blaine in that suit, and for the first time considered how he had looked from Blaine's perspective. He must have looked like such a fan boy, almost drooling over how perfect Blaine was. It would explain the proud and slightly amused look on Blaine's face just now. He should feel embarrassed, but he would have done it all over again if he could.

They had suddenly come all the way up to the seventh floor, and soon they were watching as the black door emerged in the flat stone wall before them.

Kurt made a move to enter, but Blaine shook his head.

"I'll go in first. You can come in like five minutes, okay?"

Kurt nodded nervously.

Blaine kissed him gently, reassured him that he had nothing to worry about and then slipped into the room.

Kurt held his promise and stayed outside.  
He kept trying to figure out what hid behind that door. Had Blaine gathered the whole school there, as a 'surprise party'? No, surely he wouldn't do that. He knew that Kurt wouldn't like that. Right?  
When he got tired of waiting, he carefully pushed the door open and peered in.

It was completely dark and he couldn't see anything, not even his own hands.

He took another step and closed the door behind him.

"Blaine?", he said quietly. "Hello?"

What if he wasn't even there? Maybe this was just a joke, maybe Blaine had left him all alone in the dark. Maybe-

But just as he was about to snap at Blaine to say something, a thousand candles had lit up at the same time all over the room. It was bigger than usual, with a big four-poster bed, a red velvet couch, an open fire that was suddenly crackling in a very homey manner and an uncountable amount of red roses. The roses where everywhere, just like the time in third year when Blaine had tricked him into believing they were both under the influence of a love potion. Kurt couldn't help but smile.

There was a big space in the middle of the room that was unoccupied by furniture, but there was currently a huge blanket laid out there with plates filled with some delicious smelling food, wine and crystal glasses. And Blaine.

He was sitting with his legs crossed, and Kurt noticed that he had taken off his suit. He was just wearing simple jeans and the dress shirt he had worn under the suit. The bow tie was still tied around his neck.

Kurt elegantly sat down opposite him on the blanket.

"It's beautiful", he whispered.

Blaine smiled.

"I know you didn't want anything dramatic, so I tried to tone it down a bit but then I thought, well you don't turn sixteen every day, so it's kind of a mix between casual and dramatic. I thought that maybe we could have dinner for like an hour tops, and then we can just cuddle and watch Disney in bed and fall asleep before the first one has even ended, like usual."

Kurt carefully avoided the candles as he leaned forward to kiss him fondly.

"That sounds perfect", he said. "I have to admit, I thought it would be something absolutely outrageously crazy."

"Guess I know you better than you think", Blaine said and smiled.

"Obviously. Thank you so much, I can't believe you did all this. Everything is just perfect."

"Well, you deserve the best. And I expect you to return the favor on my birthday..."

Kurt laughed.

"Of course. I promise I'll even top this, even if that will be sort of a tall order", he said.

"I'm sure it will be amazing."

They both leaned in for another kiss, but Blaine took it a step further and moved around the candles so he was on Kurt's side of the blanket, and soon they were lying on the floor, tangled in each other.

"I wasn't that hungry anyway", Kurt mumbled against Blaine's curls as Blaine kissed all the way down his jaw to his collarbones.

Blaine smiled against his skin.

"Happy birthday, honey."


	8. Chapter 8

Everything was just Klainebows and unicorns after that. Well, okay, maybe they had been spending a little too much time with Brittany...

But life really was rather great.

They didn't get beat up or anything. Of course people stared and they were always prepared to make a run for it if someone got _really_ upset when they held hands or kissed in public. But nothing major happened, with the exceptions of a few times when they had to quickly disappear from a crowd because of a particularly nasty glare or a shove, but that was just precautions because they were both so nervous about something actually happening.

And then there was the exams. They weren't quite as serious as the fifth-years O.W.L-exams or the seventh-years N.E.W.T's, but it was still very important to pass them or they'd have to re-do the year.

They didn't have much time to see each other because of the intense studying before the exams, but now they could at least study together in the library.

And they did pass all their exams. Blaine even got an E in Transfiguration (Exceeds Expectations), to his great surprise.

But when the anxiety of their exams was over, they faced a whole new problem.  
Summer holidays were soon upon them and they would have to spend it apart from each other.

And then their final day of the term at Hogwarts arrived.

For the first time, the two of them rode in the same carriage from the castle to the platform where they would take the train from Hogsmeade to London.

They shared the carriage with Finn and Rachel, who had recently made up and gotten back together.

Rachel was sitting in Finn's lap, giggling and whispering something into his ear that made him smile that crooked smile of his. Then she sat up straighter and stuck her tongue down his throat.

Kurt and Blaine weren't quite as obnoxious. They simply sat next to each other, holding hands and looking out of the window on their respective sides.  
The air between them was heavy and neither dared say anything. Words would just make everything worse.

Blaine's owl had been taken from him along with their luggage, but Kurt had been allowed to take his cat Cheshire with him in the carriage. The ones responsible for luggage and pets had tried to take him but Cheshire had gone crazy and hissed and scratched every piece of skin he could reach. He wasn't usually the kind of cat that bit or scratched people, but if someone tried to take him away from Kurt, he used all means to get back into Kurt's arms.

They arrived at the platform, and Kurt let go of Blaine's hand to pick up Cheshire.

Blaine's hand burnt with the absence of Kurt, and he wondered if the entire summer would hurt that much too or if he would get numbed with the longing eventually.

The thought was depressing.

"Do you want to share a compartment or should we start practising being on our own at once?", Kurt asked gloomily.

"Don't be silly, of course we'll share", Blaine said.

Kurt gave him a weak smile.

They did have a few hours left at least. Thank god for the train ride.

The train was waiting for them when they arrived to the platform.  
It was packed with people, and Kurt almost lost Blaine in the crowd until he managed to find a way to hold Cheshire with one hand and hold Blaine's hand with the other.

Finn and Rachel did get lost in the crowd though, so the two of them went onto the train to find their own compartment.

Cheshire was struggling a little against Kurt's hold of him, but he refused to let go of him.

"You'll get trampled to death", he said and tried to calm him down.

He knew Cheshire hated being carried like that.

Even though they had been among the first to arrive at the platform, they couldn't find an empty compartment.

But as they walked down the narrow hallways, peering into compartment after compartment only to find them all full, they finally found one that was empty.

Blaine slid the door open and fell down on one of the seats.

He moaned and closed his eyes.

"Do you realise that we only have on year left and then we'll never return to Hogwarts?", he said, still with his eyes closed.

He could hear Kurt close the door, and then he felt him sitting down next to him.

"Yeah. It's really scary, but to be honest I'd rather never see Hogwarts again if I could just spend this summer with you", he said.

Blaine opened one eye and glanced at him.

Another moan.

"This is so stupid. I can't _breathe_ without you, Kurt. I'll drop dead as soon as you leave King's Cross, I swear", he said.

Kurt smiled weakly and reached out to stroke Blaine's hair.

"It's just for a little while. We'll see each other in September again", he said.

But how could he comfort Blaine when he himself felt completely devastated?

And it actually was a lot of time they would have to be without each other.

It was the third week of June now, and term resumed on the 1st of September. That left them with twelve weeks apart. Oh god, was it that much? Kurt hadn't actually counted the weeks until now.

How could he possibly survive that?

"Okay, here's the plan. We don't talk about it anymore until we get to London, and we promise to write at least once a week until we meet again. Okay?", Blaine said and met Kurt's eyes intensely.

Kurt nodded. He was really trying not to cry, but it was so hard when Blaine looked at him like that.

"Come here", Blaine said and opened his arms as an invitation.

Kurt curled up in his arms, his head leaning against Blaine's chest.

"We'll get through this. We've done this before", Blaine said soothingly.

"I know, but it just feels much worse this year, but I don't know why", Kurt mumbled.

Blaine pressed a kiss to his hair.

"We'll be fine", he repeated, over and over again.

When they arrived at King's Cross hours later, they had both fallen asleep.

Blaine was sitting leaned against the wall with his legs spread out across three seats with Kurt settled in between his legs with his back pressed up against Blaine's chest and his arms around Kurt's waist.

They both woke with a start as the train made that sound that declared their arrival.

Kurt sat up and stretched out his sore arms before turning to look at Blaine. This was it.

"Oh, honey, don't cry", Blaine mumbled and took him in his arms again. They stayed like that for a few minutes, both so reluctant to let go that they just didn't.

But soon they had to pick up the pieces and put themselves together long enough for a goodbye.

"We're being silly, this isn't even goodbye for real. We'll see each other soon", Blaine said as he wiped away both Kurt's and his own tears.

"It's just-"

Kurt didn't even finish the sentence before he wrapped his arms around Blaine again and buried his face in his shirt.

They had changed out of their school robes and into their regular clothing.

"We should probably say goodbye here because we won't be able to kiss or even hug once we get out", Blaine said hoarsely. When Kurt looked ever sadder at this, he added, "And it's not because I'm ashamed of you or because I don't love you, it's just that my family doesn't know about you and this is not how I want them to find out."

"I know", Kurt said weakly.

Then he pressed his lips to Blaine's, but he was so emotionally unstable that he didn't have the energy to keep them there for long.

"I love you so much", he whispered as they hugged on last time. He nuzzled into Blaine's neck and inhaled that scent that he loved so much.

"I love you too", Blaine mumbled.

Then they broke apart, dried their tears and opened the compartment door and stepped out into the hallway. Most people had gone off already, but there was still a fair amount of students still in the process.  
Kurt slipped his hand into Blaine's as the line of students slowly got closer to the door. Once they could see out onto the platform, they let go of each other and Kurt clutched on to Cheshire for support. The cat didn't object at all. He just licked Kurt faithfully, letting him bury his tear-stained face in his fur.

"I love you", Kurt mumbled over his shoulder just as he stepped off the train onto the platform.

He wasn't sure he even got a reply, because the second his feet touched the ground he got pulled into another tearful hug as Carole had found him.

"Oh, _honey_!", she cried out. "Where's Finn? He didn't get lost again, did he?"

Then she saw Blaine right behind him, who looked gloomily at the lovely relationship Kurt obviously had with his (step)mother. He didn't really look forward to meeting his own again.

Carole was just about to hug him when Kurt hurriedly reminded her how Blaine's parents was oblivious to their relationship and that they shouldn't be seen together.

So she settled for a, in her mind, detached nod and a "Have a good holiday". Blaine replied in the same manner.

Then his eyes locked with Kurt's, and he gave an almost unrecognisable nod of goodbye before he allowed himself to get lost in the crowd. He could still feel Kurt on his skin and it was like torture.

When he finally found his own family, the greetings were not as heart-warming as the Hummels' had been. Blaine's mother hugged him, and she might have been tearing up too but Blaine didn't notice. Because everything about his family just reminded him of why he wouldn't get to see Kurt for twelve weeks. It was their fault. If they had been more open and decent, he could have brought Kurt home with him for at least a little while. But no, he would have to dwell in his own misery because they thought his sexuality was an abomination.

And to add to the misery, Terry was there to welcome him home too. He looked even meaner now than he had when he went to Hogwarts. He had transferred when Blaine was in his fourth year - and Terry in his sixth – to Durmstrang, a school that focused much more on the Dark Arts than Hogwarts did. They were also pure-blood maniacs and their parents had thought it healthy for Terry to 'be more with their own kind'.

Blaine had profusely refused to transfer as well. And, for once, his parents had listened to him and allowed him to remain at Hogwarts. If they had known his main reason was because his boyfriend went there, they would surely have transferred him in a split second.

"Did you have a good term, honey?", his mother asked.

Images of Kurt and him together flashed by his eyes. Kurt sleeping in his arms. Kurt cheering for him – even though it simultaneously meant cheering for Slytherin – from the Quidditch stands. Kurt smiling when Blaine bought them both candy in Hogsmeade's sweet shop Honeydukes. Kurt laughing at one of Blaine's lame jokes that only Kurt found hilarious. Kurt kissing him. Kurt telling him he loved him.

Blaine smiled.

"Yeah, it was great."

* * *

The summer holiday really did go excruciatingly slowly.

Kurt didn't have an owl, so at first he had just been able to send replies to Blaine's letters with Blaine's owl. But they wrote to each other so frequently that Blaine's parents were getting suspicious. That's when Kurt sent him a cellphone.

He sent it along with a manual and a really long letter explaining what it was and how to use it.

Blaine, being raised in an-all magical family, had never seen such a thing before.

It took about two weeks of frustrated fiddling with it to understand it, but once he got the hang of it it was really useful. He could send Kurt a text message, and get the reply within minutes, or even seconds. And since there were no noisy owls involved, they could communicate more often and without getting detected by Blaine's parents. They texted each other long into the nights, both of them falling asleep with their phones in their hands.

It was a warm day in the middle of July, and Blaine had been forced to go with his parents to Diagon Alley. The agenda was to go there, shop a little and have fun. _Fun._  
Blaine snorted at the mere thought.

But he agreed to go anyway, mostly because Terry was harassing him so much that he just wanted an escape, in any form. Terry was staying at home because he had to finish some of his work for a deadline. He had graduated Durmstrang and was currently working at the Ministry of Magic, as did their father.

Despite the relief of being rid of Terry, it was unusually hard to act as though nothing was wrong. His fingers kept itching and begging him to just text Kurt already, but he knew he couldn't do that in the presence of his parents.

His mother seemed to have noticed that he had someone special in his life, and she kept prodding him about it. The most common questions were 'She's like us though, right honey?'

She. Like us. _She._  
Blaine felt like his insides were coming up any second.

He felt so dirty and disgusting for hiding in the stupid closet. He wasn't ashamed of his sexuality, and he _certainly _wasn't ashamed of Kurt. So why couldn't he just man up and tell them already?  
Because he was afraid of the reactions.

No matter how much he tried to deny it, he was terrified to death by how they would react.

Every child's wish is for their family to love them unconditionally. But what are you supposed to do when you have a secret that almost certainly will make your own parents kick you out and erase you from their memories? And it wasn't just a fear of rejection. He was physically afraid of his father.

Ever since he was a very young boy he had been told about his father's grand accomplishments. In other words, the times when he beat people up because they thought differently than him. This mostly concerned Muggle borns – Blaine hadn't used the other M-word for years – and, surprise surprise, homosexuals.

And his father was a very violent man. More than once had his sons received a beating when they had done something wrong. His mother had been subjected to it more than her sons.

But they all just pretended like those incidents had never occurred. Or, more accurately, they were just so used to the violent approach that they thought it was normal, and that every decent parent used the same technique. It took years for Blaine to realise that getting beaten wasn't something he should be this accustomed to.

Blaine's mother was as loving towards her husband as always, despite years of verbal and physical abuse. And since Blaine and Terry was forbidden to speak of it, they just came to accept that it was their lot in life. They both tried much harder to please their father so they wouldn't get hit.

It wasn't like it happened every other week, though. It was more of a build-up. After a number of errors, he would get that look on his face and they would know the time had come again.

Blaine could remember times when he still was a young boy when he had upset his father, and despite his flowing row of apologies he hadn't escaped the scolding that had followed the slip-up. If anything he got punished harder because, "Anderson's don't apologise, Blaine. Anderson's hold their ground and take their penalty like a man."

He hadn't told Kurt about any of this. He knew about the war hero stories Blaine had been fed with since day one, and he knew that Blaine's father beat up, in his eyes, unworthy people who deserved a good whipping, but he had no idea of the abuse Blaine himself had endured in his life.

He didn't want him to know or worry. It was better to just keep it a secret. After all, Anderson's are stronger by themselves.

And honestly, he wasn't sure his father would settle for a simple knuckle-to-jaw-fight if his son turned out to be gay and dating a Muggle born. He would send him off to get treated, or treat him himself.

He didn't know if there was a limit to the measures his father would take to 'straighten him out', so to speak.

It was important that he didn't find out about him and Kurt. At least not until Blaine was really ready.

But despite these very real concerns, he found himself typing a text to Kurt as he strolled through a store in Diagon Alley. His parents weren't around so he had picked up his phone, but it was still dangerous because they could come around the corner any second and catch him in the action. But he just needed to talk to Kurt, even if only through a few text messages.

_Hey, babe. -B_

_Hi. How are you? -K_

_You know, the usual. I have the biggest food craving but I'm stuck in Diagon Alley with my parents. Sigh. -B_

_Blaine! Are you actually insane? Why don't you just go get ice cream from that ice cream parlour? -K_

_Oh! Right. Florean Fortescue's, of course. Why didn't I think of that? -B_

_Because you're a big goofball. Go eat something and text me later, okay? -K_

_Mm right, if I don't die from the deliciousness that is ice cream. -B_

_I hate you. I'm alone at home with Finn and we have no food home because Finn ate it all last night and now he's too lazy to go to the store. So I'll just starve to death while you get to eat the most awesome ice cream in the world. How is that fair? -K_

_Sorry, I'd get you some if I could... -B_

_I'm not actually upset, Blaine. You should lighten up. -K_

_I'll buy you ice cream in September, okay? -B_

_Great, just in time for the winter months. -K_

_You're impossible. -B_

_I certainly am. I guess I'll have to go to the store myself if I ever want to eat again, sigh. I'll text you later, okay? Love you. -K_

_Love you too. -B_

He stuffed his phone into his pocket just in time as his parents came into view, both licking at big ice creams. Blaine felt his mouth water and was just about to get upset that they hadn't bought him anything when his mother pulled out an even bigger ice cream from behind her back.  
It had at least three different flavours and two different toppings.  
Maybe she wasn't too bad after all.

He took the ice cream rather excitedly, and finished it off within the next half-hour.

They kept strolling through Diagon Alley without much of a destination. His father was laughing and joking with his wife, and it was hard to believe that this was the same man that Blaine was terrified would beat him senseless if he came out.

Suddenly Blaine felt a vibration in his pocket, and he quickly excused himself by telling his parents he would go look at racing brooms.

He hurried off and picked up his phone while he walked.

_BREAKING NEWS: Finn Hudson has volunteered to cook dinner for tonight, even though I'm a vegan and I'm confident he loves meat more than he loves me. This is the end of the world, right, when he is doing household chores on his own accord? I thought so. -K_

Blaine couldn't help but laugh. Kurt had told him endless stories about Finn and his laziness.

_Oh wow, yeah, the world is definitely ending then. Ah well, at least I get to make out with the love of my life one more time...mmm, ice cream, I love you so much... -B_

_Blaine, I hope you're not actually making out with your ice cream. That's cheating! -K_

_Does it make things better if I tell you I pictured your face the whole time? -B_

_That's just deeply disturbing. I will never be able to look at ice cream again without imagining you making out with it. Not that I'm complaining, though. -K_

Then something really weird happened. Something strange and irresponsible and just plain stupid.

His fingers moved across the phone without his mind's consent. And suddenly he had pressed Send and there was no going back.

_Kurt. I want you to meet my parents. -B_

He stared at the screen for a while, battling with himself. He was a little thrilled he had finally had the guts to make the proposition, but there was another part of him that was terrified to death by the idea of letting Kurt go anywhere near his father. If he hurt Kurt, how could Blaine ever look himself in the mirror again? _Stupid_. It was stupid and irresponsible and he should just send another text and explain that the ice cream had gotten to his head and that it was a bad idea and-

_I'd love to. Maybe I can stay at your house for a few days, get to know your family a little. -K_

Oh, crap. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap.

He was screwed. He was literally screwed. What was wrong with him? Why would he even do that? He knew how dangerous his father was. Why would he want Kurt around for that?

Shit, shit, shit.  
But instead of writing these things, his fingers took over once again and a whole other message was sent.

_How about next week? I don't have anything planned. -B_

_Perfect. I'll call dad and see if he's okay with it. I'll text you later. -K_

_Great. -B_

No, not great, you stupid person. It's anything but great! A horrible, heart-clenchingly _stupid_ mistake is what it is.


	9. Chapter 9

Despite knowing how incredible stupid it had been to invite Kurt to his house, he didn't revoke the offer. He did miss Kurt an awful lot, and maybe it would all work out. At least that's what he told himself. But he wasn't planning on taking Kurt there without taking some precautions first. He didn't tell Kurt about these of course, because he didn't want to cause any unnecessary worry.

It was a little tricky though, because as a sixteen-year-old wizard Blaine wasn't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts. Since Kurt's parents weren't magically equipped, it was hard to find a way to get Kurt to his house without revealing to his parents that he was Muggle born. Blaine figured it wasn't a very good first step. First he just wanted his family to get along with Kurt, then he could start introducing the real him.

Kurt couldn't Apparate to him because they hadn't covered that in school yet, and even if he knew how to do it he still wasn't allowed to as he wasn't of age yet.

At first Blaine considered meeting him in Diagon Alley and then using the Floo Network from there to get to Blaine's home, but Kurt poked holes in that plan because his parents couldn't take him to London and Diagon Alley because they would be out of town for a few days.

At first Blaine's father was suspicious as to why Kurt's parents didn't just Side-Along Apparate their son to the Anderson mansion, but Blaine was quick-witted enough to blame this on the fact that they would be travelling on the day Kurt was to come visit.

As his father refused to help him with the planning, Blaine took it in his own hands to create a Portkey connected to Kurt's house. He wasn't really allowed to because he was under age. There was something called the Trace on every under age witch or wizard that detected use of magic around them, but this was basically useless for children who came from wizarding families. The magic his parents used kept interfering with the Trace so it was impossible for the Ministry for Magic to detect if it was Blaine or his family who did the magic. So he dared an attempt at making a Portkey. He figured it was worth the risk of getting caught if it would help getting him Kurt.

It was tricky, but he succeeded after a number of attempts. It was designed for multiple uses, so he could take it to Kurt's house and then they could both use it to return to Blaine's. He was saving it for Kurt's return home too, although it was a little tempting to just trap him in his room forever. Kurt probably wouldn't mind.

* * *

And so came the actual day of Kurt's visit.

Blaine was supposed to take the Portkey to Kurt's place around noon, and then they would return to Blaine's almost immediately. But because of some minor setbacks, he didn't get there until around one o'clock. He arrived in a small garden covered in perfectly green grass, equipped with a red-and-yellow swing set. It belonged to a red house with white corners. It looked really homey.

He, embarrassingly enough, landed right in one of the many flower beds spread out across the garden. This particular one was full of beautiful roses and they were pretty roughed up from being crushed under his feet.

Before he could step out of it or even look around the garden more properly, something – or rather someone – had come running across the lawn and flung its arms around him.

The smell of Kurt hit him like a brick wall and his body was barely functional enough to wrap his own arms around him. He didn't even realise that he was sobbing slightly until they broke apart and Kurt rubbed his thumb gently against his cheek to dry his tears.

"I've missed you so much", Blaine mumbled and tugged him closer again.

Kurt pressed a kiss to his cheek and held on to him even tighter.

"I missed you too."

"Sorry about the flowers", Blaine mumbled guiltily.

He could almost hear Kurt rolling his eyes.

"We haven't seen each other in over a month and you're worrying about our flowers."

Kurt gently pushed him away.

"Shouldn't we get going?", he asked.

"Yeah... but, you know, we could just stay here for a little while... we can't kiss when we're at my place and I really miss kissing you..."

He didn't need to say anything more as Kurt instantly closed the distance between them and crashed their lips together. They allowed themselves to get lost in the kiss for a few very long, yet somehow short, minutes until they finally broke apart again.

Kurt licked his lower lip, unable to look away from Blaine's slightly crimson mouth.

"My bag is in the hall", he said when he finally tore his eyes away.

Blaine just nodded, and let his hands drop from Kurt's waist and down to intertwine their fingers.

They walked across the rather small garden and into the house. It was even more homey and cosy inside than it had seemed from the outside.  
The hall was small and filled with hooks holding jackets, hats, scarves and other various garments. The floor was covered in shoes and a big, soft-looking carpet.

Kurt picked up a jet black suitcase that seemed a little big for just a three days-visit.

He must have seen Blaine's raised eyebrows, because he blushed and said, "Well, I want to have several options. I can't wear the same outfit three days in a row, that's a crime against fashion."

Blaine didn't say anything but took the suitcase off his hands.

"I can carry my own things, thank you very much", Kurt said and tried to get it back, but Blaine shook his head and held it out of reach.

"Nuh-uh. You're my guest, I'll carry it for you", he said.

Kurt rolled his eyes, recognising the determination in his voice and not wanting to fight with him the first thing they did. He took a quick lap around the house to see if he had forgotten something.

Blaine waited politely in the hall, leaning against the wall and discreetly peering into the kitchen, the only room he could see from that spot.

It seemed open and bright, as did the rest of the house.

When Kurt was up on the upper floor, probably skimming through his room a last time, Finn came into the hall from the kitchen.

"Kurt, dude, I spilled this weird stuff all over the place and-"

Then he noticed Blaine standing awkwardly by the door, his arms folded across his chest.  
Their eyes locked and both blushed slightly.

"Oh, right, Kurt mentioned you were coming", Finn said. He rubbed the back of his neck.

Neither of them knew what to say. They had never really gotten along, but they had both learned to tolerate the other as they were both very important to Kurt.

Then, as if on cue, Kurt came bounding down the stairs.

"I almost forgot-"

He didn't get much further as he crashed into Finn who was standing right at the end of the stairs.

"Ouch, sorry dude, are you okay?", Finn asked and held Kurt on arms length to examine him.

"I'm fine, thank you", Kurt said and rubbed his now sore nose.

He looked past his brother at Blaine who still looked rather awkward. Then he returned his gaze to Finn again.

"So, dad and Carole will be home tomorrow night in time to make you dinner. I put the remains from yesterday's dinner in the fridge and I think there's some soda in there somewhere too, otherwise you just have to go to the store. The washing machine will be done in like half an hour or so, so remember to hang it up in the bathroom before it gets all wrinkled. It's just your stuff so if you forget you'll have to live with the consequences of messy clothes later", he said.

"Yeah, okay, alright. I'm not five, you know", Finn said and wrinkled his nose.

Kurt smiled. "You're like six or seven, tops."

That earned him a pinch on the arm that made him squeal and slap Finn's arm in return.

Then they both collected themselves, remembering Blaine's presence, and Kurt continued to give instructions on what Finn needed to do around the house in his absence.

The list was rather long, and Finn soon had to get paper and a pen to write them all down.

"So, you'll be gone three days or so?", Finn asked, fiddling with the list between his fingers.

Kurt nodded and took a jacket from a hook on the wall and put it on.

In the middle of the movement, he stiffened and his eyes narrowed. Finn's face was way too innocent. He could just feel something was up. And then it clicked.

"Finn, tell me you're not bringing Rachel here", he said sharply.

Finn blushed.

"You can't tell me what to-"

"I can't believe you! After that big speech they gave us last week about not having girls or boys over when they were gone, and you're just inviting her over without a second thought!", Kurt said.

"Well, you're off to his house, aren't you?", Finn said indignantly and pointed in Blaine's general direction, making him blush. "No one will be keeping an eye on you two either!"

"His family doesn't know we're dating, they just think I'm a friend so there'll be no things worth hiding from dad or Carole! And they _know_ I'm going there, so it's not a secret. Finn, seriously, if they find out she's been here they will have us both grounded! You know how sensitive dad is about this stuff", Kurt hissed.

"We won't _do _anything so why are you making such a big deal out of it?", Finn snapped.

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Okay, do whatever you want. But", he gave Finn a sharp glare for emphasis, "if you two go anywhere near my bed, _I'll end you._"

Finn just laughed at that, although Kurt was certain the threat was necessary. More than once had he caught them making out on his bed, which was completely unnecessary and insensitive.

Once that was all worked out, they hugged and Finn told him to have fun.

Blaine still insisted on carrying his suitcase, so Kurt left the house with nothing to carry but a bag strapped over his shoulder. It wasn't really necessary to bring it as it was almost empty, but he always brought it with him wherever he went. It was just a small piece of comfort he wanted to bring with him into the unknown territory that was Blaine's home.

They went out into the garden again. The portkey – a bow tie, silly enough – was lying in the grass.

Blaine made Kurt touch it at the same time as he did, and then they were ripped out of the garden as though pulled by a hook buried in their stomachs, and suddenly they were standing, rather dizzily, in Blaine's own garden.

"I feel like I'm about to throw up", Kurt gasped.

Blaine gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. It was the most physical contact he dared attempt now that they were at his home.

Once Kurt had collected himself from the, mildly put, uncomfortable travel, he raised his gaze from the asphalt and to the house in front of him. Another gasp left him, embarrassingly enough.

Kurt's home was simple and not that extraordinary, but it was home and he loved it in all its simplicity.

Blaine's home was its complete opposite.

It was a grand mansion with- oh my god, was this even real? It even had huge ivory white columns in front of the house, making it look like the freaking White House.

"It's a little much, I know-", Blaine said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

Kurt sucked in a breath.

It _was _a little much. The whole thing seemed to hit him all at once. He was going to meet Blaine's parents in a few minutes. Blaine's highly prejudice parents who loathed people like Kurt.

He could feel Blaine's hand settle on his arm, applying gentle but warm pressure in an attempt to calm him. The best thing would be to feel those arms wrapped around him, but knowing it wasn't an option, Kurt settled for the light touch of his hand.

He nodded slightly, letting out the breath he had unconsciously held in.

"Okay", he said.

Blaine nodded too. He hesitated.

"Would it be okay with you if I just present you as my friend? For now", he said slowly.

Kurt nodded a little too quickly. He'd accept anything to postpone the moment where he would be subjected to the hatred of Blaine's parents as they met the boy who, in their eyes, had ruined their precious son.

"And, um… can I tell them you're pure-blood? I hate lying about you but I'm afraid they'll-"

"I'm not offended. I understand", Kurt assured him.

Blaine nodded. Then he took another deep breath and picked up the suitcase again.

"Okay, well, there's no reason to delay it any longer", he said and headed to the giant front doors.

Kurt followed him quickly, not wanting to be left alone in this new strange place.

"Just let me deal with their questions about your family, okay?", Blaine muttered out of the corner of his mouth as they approached the door.

Kurt nodded. He felt as though he might pass out any moment.

Blaine gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, and then he opened the door and stepped inside.


	10. Chapter 10

The hall was at least three times as big as the one in Kurt's house. Its walls were covered in paintings whose occupants were moving around and chatting with each other, and there wasn't a sign of clothing or shoes in sight. Blaine shrugged off his jacket and opened a door to his right that was camouflaged against the wall. Even though from the outside it looked like an ordinary cabinet, its inside was extremely big and Kurt quickly realised it was done by magic. Of course, they were all magically gifted. Blaine took both of their jackets and hung it inside the cabinet before closing the door.

Right ahead was a marble staircase that went in a wide spiral up to the floors ahead. Kurt quickly estimated the building to have at least three floors.  
They could hear the fancy sound of high heels on marble as a woman came down the stairs. She was wearing a red dress that fell elegantly around her ankles and that matched the black heels on her feet. A pearl necklace was gracing her neck and Kurt couldn't help but admire her.

"Hi, mother", Blaine said, and Kurt was momentarily taken aback by the sheer politeness in his voice. It sounded like he was addressing royalty.

"Honey", the woman beamed as she stepped down the final steps.

"This is Kurt", Blaine said and pulled Kurt in front of him. "My… um, my best friend."

Kurt tried to pull off a charming smile, but it got caught in his throat and all he managed was a squeak that sounded somewhat like "lovely home".  
Blaine's mother smiled at him.

"Blaine has told us so much about you, and your family", she said.

Kurt's breath hitched and he was yet again unable to speak. But, thankfully, Blaine saved him.

"You promised you wouldn't grill him on his family tree, mother. I told you, he doesn't want to talk about it", he said.

"But why?", she asked, addressing Kurt. "They seem so lovely."

"My mother died when I was very young", Kurt blurted out. "And I have been exploited before because my father is such an eminent wizard. I just want my friendship with Blaine to be because of my own credits, and not my fathers."

He hadn't meant to speak at all, and now he regretted it. Blaine had told him to leave it up to him and he had totally ignored his request. But as Kurt glanced at him, he seemed more impressed than disappointed.

"Oh, I'm sorry", the woman said softly. She shot Blaine a look, adding, "Blaine never mentioned that."

Kurt managed a smile.

"I'm sure he didn't. He's such a gentleman", he said.

Complimenting a mother's son was always a plus.  
And as expected, she beamed at him.

"How come we haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before? You are such a nice young man", she said.

"I must admit I was a little nervous about meeting you. Blaine has told me so much about you, I felt rather intimidated", Kurt said.

He was on a roll. The look on her face told him he had aced the first impression part.

"No need for such things", she said fondly. "Blaine, honey, why don't you give Kurt the tour?"

Blaine nodded silently. Kurt was about to take his suitcase with him, but before he could pick it up a house-elf had appeared next to Blaine's mother. She ordered it to take Kurt's luggage up to Blaine's room.

It didn't feel right, but Kurt knew better than to object. He was against the whole idea of having servants – or, in the matter of house-elves, more like slaves – but he knew that the wizarding families all had house-elves, and as he pretended to be of such heritage, he shouldn't show his reluctance.  
Blaine sensed his sudden tension, and quickly ushered him up the staircase, away from his mother.

"I'm impressed", he whispered as they got up on the next floor. "She loves you."

Kurt shrugged.

"I'm good at pretending", he said. "But I doubt your father will feel the same as your mother. After what you've told me about him, I doubt he'll sympathize with the boy whose voice sounds more like an eight-year-old girl than a sixteen-year-old straight boy."

"I don't really care about his opinion", Blaine said quietly enough for no one but Kurt to hear him.

* * *

It took over two hours to go through the whole building. It really was huge and extremely fancy.  
Blaine was just embarrassed by how spoiled he came off, but Kurt didn't seem to care. He absorbed everything Blaine told him about the house like a sponge, eager to know every little detail about Blaine's life there. When they finally got to Blaine's bedroom, on the third floor, Kurt was barely able to contain his excitement.

"It's nothing special, really, so-"

"It doesn't matter, just open!", Kurt said eagerly and pushed him towards the door.

Blaine obliged, and let Kurt go in first.  
The first thing Kurt could think of when he entered was that he must have entered the wrong room. This didn't look like it belonged to Blaine at all. Not the Blaine he knew, at least.  
The walls were empty and white, the bed was made way too properly and there were no sign of personal items.  
Kurt turned to him, his mouth wide open. Blaine blushed.

"I told you it wasn't much", he muttered and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I- it's nice", Kurt said finally.

Blaine rolled his eyes.

"It's boring, I know. But, you know, there's not much to do with it that won't send my parents over the edge", he said.

Then, realising his words might not be suited for other ears, he closed the door behind him.

There weren't much furniture in the room except for the bed, a rather empty bookshelf, a small wardrobe and a white writing desk.  
Kurt sat down on the bed and looked around him.  
He didn't really know what to say.  
Blaine just stood rooted on the spot, nervously glancing over at his stunned boyfriend.

"So...", he mumbled awkwardly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Uh-huh", Kurt replied distantly.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door, making them both jump.  
Blaine took the single step towards it and yanked it open.  
It was Terry. Of course.

"Mom says dinner is ready in 10 minutes", he said.

Then he peered over Blaine's shoulder and locked eyes on Kurt, who was sitting with his legs crossed and his hands cupping his knee. He looked so sweet and innocent.  
A nasty smirk crept across Terry's face.  
Blaine registered it and took a step to his right so he blocked Kurt from view.

"We'll make sure to be in the dining room in 10, then", he said curtly. His jaw was clenched tightly and he just wanted his brother to go far, far away. He didn't want him anywhere near Kurt.

Terry's eyes darted back to his brother.

"Looking forward to it", he said, winked and turned around.

Blaine slammed the door shut and let out a sigh.  
Kurt was by his side within seconds, his hand softly on Blaine's shoulder.

"Why are you so upset?", he asked gently.

Blaine looked over at him, his eyebrows furrowed sadly.

"It's just-"

He sighed again and carefully brushed a lock of Kurt's hair that had fallen onto his forehead.

"I'm just tired", he finished vaguely.

He could tell Kurt wasn't buying it, but thankfully he didn't press on.  
Instead he let his hand fall from Blaine's shoulder and linked their hands together, tugging him over to the bed.

"We can't- we can't be too touchy in case someone comes in", Blaine mumbled.

Kurt smiled.

"I know. We can sit next to each other though, right? Or do we have to keep a two feet-distance?", he joked and sat down, gazing expectantly at him.

"No, no of course we can sit next to each other. I just- my family isn't that accepting, you know, and I don't want anyone to get hurt-", Blaine mumbled and sat down next to him, their knees touching lightly.

"Why would anyone get hurt?", Kurt interrupted.

Blaine's mouth fell open.

"Oh, no reason. I was just thinking out loud, forget I said anything."

Kurt eyed him suspiciously.  
Blaine decided to steer out of those dangerous waters.

"We should go to dinner or we'll be late", he said and went to open the door.

Kurt followed him, still giving him suspicious looks every other second.

"We'll talk later, okay?", Blaine mumbled under his breath as they descended the stairs.

"If you say so", Kurt replied monotonously.

Blaine opened his mouth to explain but they had reached the dining room, and he was shut up by a scream as he accidentally ran into one of the family's house-elves.  
Barely a second had passed before a rough voice had ordered the elf to punish itself in at least three different, very specific, ways. With tears in its eyes, it disappeared with a snap of its fingers.

Kurt's eyes were widened in shock.

Blaine was, of course, used to the abuse of the family's house-elves and although it still made him very upset, he had learned how to control his feelings. Kurt wasn't as used to it as he was.

He took hold of Kurt's arm and pulled him along to the dining table in the middle of the room. It was almost as long and grand as the staff table at Hogwarts. But, of course, what else could you expect from one of the richest, most successful wizarding families in the country?  
Blaine pushed him into a vacant chair and then sat down on the one next to it.

Kurt was still taken aback by that scream the elf had let out before it had vanished to punish itself. When he finally pulled himself together long enough to remember where he was, he noticed that he was sitting down in the middle of the most glorious dining room he had ever seen. The ceiling was high and beautifully painted with complicated patterns.

On his right side was Blaine, who was glancing nervously at him. To his left was Terry, and beside him was the two brothers' mother. And way across the table was the most stern-looking, terrifying man Kurt had ever seen.  
His eyes were dangerously narrow and his body posture was tense.

"This is Kurt", Blaine said, obviously directed at his father.

Said man gave a barely noticeable nod. He lowered his gaze to the plate of food in front of him and took a bite.

"Tell me about your family, Kurt."

The sentence hung unanswered in the air for several seconds.  
Kurt was struggling to come up with an answer that would not reveal his true identity. Blaine had made it clear that he wasn't ready for that yet.

"I- um-"

"Can we not talk about this now, please? His family is a sensitive topic", Blaine interrupted.

"Why?", his father asked, icy eyes piercing into Kurt's very soul.

His breath was caught in his throat and he couldn't form a single word for the life of him. Funny enough, it actually felt as if his life depended on the development of this conversation.

"Why do you have to-"

"Blaine, be quiet. Now, Kurt, what were you saying?", Mr Anderson asked, taking another bite of his food.

Kurt took a sip of the water in front of him, a desperate attempt to stall. But then he was just forced to speak.

"I live with my father and Carole and her son Finn", he said.

There, it was a start and it wasn't even a lie.

"Who is this Carole? Is she your birth mother?", Mr Anderson asked bluntly.

Kurt swallowed with some difficulty. The food in front of him lay forgotten.

"My mother died when I was younger. My father remarried a few years ago", he replied.

The table went quiet for a few seconds. Out of the corner of his eye Kurt could see Blaine tense.

"I'm sorry to hear that", Mr Anderson said finally.

And then he, to everyone's relief, dropped the subject.  
Kurt and Blaine's eyes locked for a fraction of a second before they both turned away.  
Mrs Anderson offered to refill Kurt's glass with water and he gave her a faint smile.

The rest of the dinner went by in a blur.  
No one asked more questions about his family and Kurt actually didn't say much at all.  
He couldn't really be himself around these people and he hated it. He was so tense he could barely move his limbs once Blaine had managed to coax them away from the table with the vague excuse of them going for a post-dinner walk.

But as soon as they were out of sight, Blaine wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist and lead him up the stairs to his room.

"Are you okay? I know they can be rough. Especially dad", he whispered.

Kurt shrugged weakly.

"I feel dizzy", he mumbled.

Blaine pressed a kiss to his temple as the door slid closed behind them.

"He has that impact on people", he said.

Kurt gave a shaky laugh.

"Do you want to sleep?", Blaine asked gently.

It _was_ exhausting to be faced with his father. Even Blaine often found himself in need of a refreshing nap after an argument with his father and he had been arguing his entire life. This was the first time Kurt had met him. It must be very tiring.

Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe not sleep, but lie down", he said.

"You take the bed", Blaine said and nudged him towards it.

Kurt gave a small, adorable pout and cocked his head to the side.

"Where will you go then?", he asked.

"I'll Conjure an extra bed or something", Blaine said with a light shrug.

Kurt bit his lip.

"Look, I'd love to share but we can't risk someone walking in on us in bed together", Blaine said.

Kurt sat down on the bed and pulled his legs up with him.

"I know. Will you at least stay in here?", he asked.

"Yeah, of course. I'll be right back, okay? You can get ready while I'm gone", Blaine said and nodded to the suitcase placed in the corner of the room.

Then he left the room and Kurt took his advice and peeled off his clothes. It took some time because of all the layers. He had just pulled on a pair of pyjama pants when Blaine came back with his wand in his hand. He quickly Conjured a bed next to the one Kurt was sitting on.  
Then he noticed that Kurt was shirtless, causing his breath to hitch and Kurt to laugh at the reaction.

"Can I borrow one of your shirts? All the ones I brought are long-sleeved", Kurt said.

Blaine went over to his wardrobe and pulled out a well-worn grey t-shirt. He tossed it over to Kurt who caught it gracefully and pulled it over his head.  
Then he climbed in under the covers and turned to look at Blaine who did the same.

Kurt didn't even care that the bed hadn't been re-made since Blaine had slept there latest. On the contrary he was happy about it because it meant he was surrounded by his smell and that was the second best to having Blaine in his entirety next to him.  
He quickly drifted off to sleep. He was apparently more tired than he had realised.

* * *

It didn't take long until he woke up again, shaking and shivering all over. His arms were full of goosebumps and a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead.  
He flew up into a sitting position, his eyes widened with fright. The nightmare that had awoken him slipped from his mind as soon as he became conscious. He couldn't remember anything about it except for the fact that it had scared him senseless. And he knew it had something to do with Blaine's father.  
Too scared to go back to sleep, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stared blankly into the darkness. Maybe he had been asleep for longer than he thought.

"Kurt?"

The voice was barely more than a whisper from the bed a few feet away.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?", Kurt whispered back.

His hand instinctively flew up to brush back the hair that had fallen into his eyes.

"No, I was awake anyway."

Even through the darkness he could see that Blaine had sat up too.

"What's wrong?", he asked.

"I just had a nightmare. It's nothing. Go back to sleep", Kurt said, hopefully sounding calmer than he was.

But some of his anxiety must have come across in his voice, because within the next few seconds he heard the creaking of the other bed and then there was an additional weight put on the bed he was sitting on. He could feel Blaine's arm wrap around him and he gratefully leaned into the familiar touch.  
They stayed like that for a while. Kurt just tried to fully appreciate the closeness and the touch of Blaine's warm hands around his waist, because he knew it would be a while before he would feel this again.

Blaine didn't ask about the dream. He didn't even ask if Kurt wanted him to stay on his side of the room, he just lay down and pulled Kurt down with him. Then he wrapped Kurt in his arms again, Kurt burying his face in the crook of Blaine's neck.

"What about not being caught like this?", Kurt mumbled, his voice muffled by Blaine's skin.

Blaine just kissed his temple in response.

"Just go to sleep", he mumbled.

Kurt suddenly felt really tired, and falling asleep in Blaine's arms was so comfortable and familiar that it didn't take long for him to drift off. The same went for Blaine, who had barely slept all night but as soon as he had Kurt pressed flush against him he felt himself relax.

But as they both fell asleep almost at the same time, they both neglected to see how the bedroom door swung open, revealed a pair of glittering eyes through the dark, and then soundlessly slid back into the door frame.


	11. Chapter 11

The next time Kurt woke up, it wasn't from a nightmare but from being way too hot. He was too tired to open his eyes so he just tried to squirm around to get rid of all the sheets tangled around his feet.

"Hey, take it easy or you'll push me on the floor."

Kurt's head shot up to locate where the voice had come from. When he turned around he saw Blaine sprawled out across the bed next to him, his hands cupping his eyes to block out the sunlight.  
His hair was completely messed up, but in a totally adorable way. Kurt smiled at the sight.

He scooted closer and wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist, pressing gentle kisses all the way from his shoulder to his jaw. Then he hit a sore spot and Blaine began to laugh uncontrollably, trying to escape Kurt's now full-on tickle attack.

"No!", he cried out, and then he rolled over and _BANG_, he fell onto the floor.

Kurt was by his side on his knees within seconds.

"Are you okay? Did you hit your head?", he asked anxiously, running his hands over Blaine's head to check for bumps.

Blaine seized his opportunity to pull Kurt down on his back, straddling him and pinning his wrists to the floor. He grinned mischievously, making Kurt's eyes narrow. There was no point in trying to fight Blaine's grip on him but he still tried.

"Blaine- what are you-"

Those words had barely left his mouth when Blaine had leaned down and pressed a firm, wanting kiss to his lips. But just as Kurt was starting to really enjoy it all, Blaine's hands had left his wrists and gone down to his waist where he started running his fingers across Kurt's smooth skin.

"N-no!", Kurt gasped, choking with hysterical laughter. He had always been freakishly ticklish.

He tried to push him away but Blaine's entire body weight pressed him to the floor and even though he wasn't the tallest of guys, he was still very fit and certainly heavy enough to pin Kurt down.

"I hope you choke on that stupid grin", Kurt gasped out, still squirming like crazy under Blaine's hands. That comment made Blaine laugh so hard he fell over. Kurt immediately took the opportunity to jump to his feet.

Blaine was still rolling around at his feet, clutching his stomach that was starting to hurt from all the laughter. Kurt sat down on the bed again and just watched him for a few moments until he got himself together again.

"You are such a goof", he smiled as Blaine joined him on the bed.

"And _you_ are mean", Blaine retorted.

"_I'm_ mean? You're the one who attacked me", Kurt argued.

"You started it."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Before Kurt could respond, Blaine had pressed their lips together and tipped them down onto their backs.

"What happened to not being too touchy?", Kurt laughed as Blaine's hands slid under his shirt.

"Sorry, I just can't help myself", Blaine replied and kissed him again. His tongue ran along Kurt's bottom lip until he parted his lips to allow entrance.

They didn't get much further until there was a knock on the door and they quickly untangled themselves and leapt up into sitting positions before the door had even opened an inch.

They both looked suspiciously flushed as Terry's head popped in through the door.  
His eyes darted between them and he wrinkled his nose as though the sight disgusted him.

"Mom wants you to come down to breakfast", he said, fixating Kurt with a fierce glare when he thought Blaine wasn't looking. But Blaine did notice.

A sound unpleasantly similar to the one of a hunting lion erupted from Blaine's throat.

Kurt had only heard that sound a few times before and they had all ended up in Blaine beating someone up or someone beating him up. He had clearly inherited some of his father's bad temper.  
Kurt lay a soothing hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing anything drastic.

Terry winced at the touch, although it was perfectly innocent, and took a step out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"Is it really terrible if I just want to punch his face in?", Blaine asked between gritted teeth.

Kurt let his fingers brush against Blaine's jaw in an attempt to relax him. It half-worked, although Blaine's eyes were still wide with rage.

"Blaine, you're over reacting. He didn't even do anything", Kurt said.

"Yet", Blaine muttered.

When Kurt gave him a perplexed look, he shook his head.

"Let's just go have some breakfast, okay?", he said and pulled his t-shirt over his head.

He tossed it on the floor and went over to the wardrobe to pick out something to wear for the day.  
Kurt watched him anxiously as he mirrored his actions. He chose a very simple black dress shirt and a pair of tight black pants. He didn't want to draw too much attention to himself while at the Anderson mansion. The Anderson's didn't exactly come across as the kind of people who appreciated rebellious clothing.

"Do you think he knows?", Kurt asked softly.

Blaine looked up from the pile of clothes he was rummaging through.

"He's not that smart, actually, so I don't think so", he said.

"Don't you think you're underestimating him?", Kurt asked carefully.

"I've known him for sixteen years. Trust me, he doesn't know", Blaine said.

"Okay. Should we go, then?", Kurt asked, glancing at him from beneath his eyelashes.

Blaine moved in for a quick kiss before they left the safety of his bedroom.

They went down the grand staircase, through the halls and into the dining room.  
The rest had already gathered there and were halfway through their breakfast.  
The only vacant seats were the ones on either side of Mr Anderson.  
Kurt's heart dropped when he fully took in the scene in front of him. He would have to sit next to this terrifying man and he wouldn't even have Blaine for support nearby.  
But even though he was scared senseless he didn't really have a choice. He couldn't just run out.

They both sat down and served themselves breakfast. Terry was just telling his parents about some new project he had been assigned at work.

Blaine kept glancing over at Kurt to make sure he wasn't freaking out too much. He noticed his father was gripping his fork a little too violently for just a not very interesting conversation about the Ministry. Something was wrong.  
The conversation suddenly took a different turn.

"So, Kurt, what exactly does your father do?"

It was Mr Anderson who uttered the question that made Kurt's mouth fall open and his heart to pound dangerously fast. His dad was a car mechanic but he couldn't say that. To be honest he didn't even know what kind of jobs people in the wizarding world had.  
Mr Anderson locked eyes with him and Kurt had never been more terrified in his entire life.

"I- he-"

Blaine opened his mouth to interrupt but his father silenced him.

"Go on, Kurt", he urged.

Blaine's heart was pounding so fast he wouldn't be surprised if it just jumped out of his chest any minute. They hadn't made a plan for these kinds of questions. Why hadn't they planned for this? Or rather, why hadn't _he_ planned? It was his responsibility, not Kurt's.

He had taken so many precautions to make sure Kurt wouldn't get harmed, but he had forgotten about the family related questions. He was the most stupid person to ever walk the earth.

"He works with dragons", Kurt blurted out.

"How interesting", Mr Anderson said blankly. "And what does he do with these dragons?"

"He- um- he-"

The fork Mr Anderson had been clasping dropped down onto the table with a loud '_clink'_. He turned away from Kurt and instead faced his youngest son, his cold eyes digging into him like a knife.

"When were you going to tell us your friend here is a Mudblood?", he asked roughly.

Kurt gasped and clasped his hands to his mouth. He hadn't heard that word for a long time and to hear it used with so little concern and so much hate was, to say the least, deeply unsettling.

"Don't call him that."

Kurt had expected Blaine to try and convince them that he really was a pure-blood wizard, but he didn't. Instead he stood up to his father for Kurt's sake.

"What did you say?", his father snapped. His temper was rising.

"I said, don't call him that", Blaine replied angrily.

"_How dare you_-"

Kurt was rooted to his chair. He wanted more than anything to just get up and run far, far away but his body wouldn't obey him.

"What else haven't you told me, huh? Perhaps he's a cannibal, or a murderer, or maybe he isn't even a Mudblood but just a _filthy Muggle_?", Mr Anderson growled.

"He's gay."

All four heads darted towards Terry, who looked calm as ever but to those who knew him it was clear how close he was to trash the place. He had inherited their father's temper even more than Blaine.

"He's _what_?"

Kurt caught himself wishing he could just die right then and there. He felt so terribly vulnerable and yet he had no idea the true danger he was in.

He was now outed as a gay Muggle born in a house containing nothing but homophobic, pure-blood maniac wizards.

"Is this true? Did you bring a fag into my house?", Mr Anderson asked his son.

Kurt was shaking violently and he didn't dare look over at Blaine. He must be so scared and it was Kurt's fault. Why had he agreed to come?

"That's not the end of it", Terry interrupted. They all turned their attention to him again, and there was a glimpse of pure unadulterated malice in his eyes. "Your precious little Blaine has a bad case of the faggies too. I bet Muggle boy here infected him."

The following events went by in a blur.  
Mr Anderson leapt from his chair and picked Kurt up by the collar of his shirt. Soon he had Kurt pushed up against the wall, elbow to his throat, looking absolutely hysterical. He was screaming and spit was flying from his mouth. Kurt was too terrified to reply or even comprehend what he was screaming. Besides, it is rather difficult to speak when a sharp elbow is pressing against your throat and depriving you of the ability to breathe.

Mrs Anderson gave a shrill shriek before clasping her hands to her mouth, Terry was gleefully watching the show and Blaine... well, Blaine had leapt over the overthrown chairs and onto his fathers back to get him away from Kurt.

Kurt still couldn't breathe and he could feel himself slipping away from consciousness. But then the elbow disappeared from his throat and he fell to the floor in a fit of frantic coughing. Suddenly he could make out Blaine's face in front of him and he was frantically yelling something but Kurt had unconsciously tuned out everything and couldn't hear it. When he managed to focus on the words coming out of his mouth, he was suddenly yanked up from the floor.

"You need to get out of here", Blaine said breathlessly.

"What? No, I can't- I can't leave you with your father, he'll kill you, he'll-", Kurt stuttered.

But Blaine's fingers dug into his shoulder and pushed Kurt behind him. Mr Anderson took a swing at Kurt's face but missed and stumbled into the table. Blaine changed position so he was still blocking Kurt from his fathers range. Then he locked eyes with Kurt and forcibly shoved a silky bow tie in his hands.

"You can't stay here!", Kurt sobbed.

"This Portkey only works for one person", Blaine insisted.

He managed to give Kurt a quick kiss on the cheek before the bow tie shaped Portkey kicked in and Kurt was ripped away from the room. The last thing he saw before the blur took over completely was Mr Anderson's fist colliding with Blaine's jaw and then the most heartbreaking scream ever filled his ears and suddenly he was sobbing on the grass outside his own house. Alone.


	12. Chapter 12

**I lost inspiration for this fic so I decided to just finish it off as quick as possible. I'm not too happy with it but I hope you enjoy it anyway. And thanks for all the reviews and story alerts and favourites. X **

* * *

"_Blaine!_ _BLAINE!_"

His screams filled the quiet morning air. Neighbours were opening their windows to see what all the fuss was about, but Kurt had never been less bothered about causing a scene.

He couldn't stop screaming. His throat was still painfully sore and the hysterical screaming certainly didn't improve the matter, but he couldn't help himself. He screamed and screamed until he was on the verge of coughing up blood. He was still dizzy from the terrifying Portkey ride and he was only moments away from vomiting all over himself. He barely even cared about that. All he cared about was the fact that the person he loved more than anything was stuck in a house with his violent homophobic father and there was nothing he could do to protect him.

"Kurt, shit, man, what are you doing here? What happened?"

Finn had run out of the house and was now kneeling beside him in the grass.  
Kurt just gasped and tried to calm down enough to remember how to breathe. He was too in shock and the breath just got caught in his throat. He was turning blue when Finn finally managed to force a breath out of him.

"Shit, shit, shit", Finn muttered and tried to calm Kurt by rubbing his back. But he was so nervous himself that it barely helped. He was so useless at comforting people. He always said the wrong things.

"B-Blaine- h-he-", Kurt gasped out, his entire body shaking with sobs.

"What about him? What happened?", Finn asked, trying to coax an answer out of him.

But Kurt was beyond salvation. He just broke down even more, clutching himself as he cried his entire heart out.  
Finn shakily swooped him up in his arms and carried him inside. Kurt was helplessly sobbing into his shoulder and Finn was barely able to convince Kurt to let go of him long enough to lay him down on the couch in their living room.

He dashed to the kitchen to get his brother a glass of water. He felt heartbreakingly helpless and all he could do was sit next to Kurt and offer him the water every other minute when the sobs were slightly less hysterical. And even though Kurt's throat was throbbing painfully he couldn't take a single sip of water.

This went on for over an hour before Kurt had finally emptied himself off all emotions. Soon he was just lying with his knees propped up against his chest, staring numbly into the distance. Every time Finn tried to bring up Blaine again, Kurt lost it and fell back into that hole of endless sobs. When he had finally managed to stay relatively calm for ten minutes straight, Finn decided to make another attempt of talking about the source of Kurt's break down.

"Dude I'm really freaking out here, can you just tell me what-"

Kurt wiped his nose on his sleeve and a small sob escaped him.

And then his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backwards and landed heavily on the couch.

Finn was usually not the greatest when it came to quick logic, but this time he instantly knew that Kurt had passed out from the shock combined with dehydration from all the crying and lack of water refills. So he forced some water down his brother's throat and then eased him down in a horizontal position again. He propped up a few pillows underneath his head and then tucked him in under a nice and cosy blanket. Then he settled himself into an armchair next to the couch to watch over him while he slept.

Rachel had gone home an hour or so ago to get some stuff she had forgotten the first time she went over and she was expected to come back to the Hummel house in a few hours. She didn't live too far away actually, which was probably a big factor in why they had managed to stay together so far over the summer.

Finn had completely forgotten about her due to the whole drama with Kurt and was to say the least shocked to see her suddenly standing in front of him.  
He must have dozed off a little on his brotherly watch-out and his head instantly snapped to the couch to see if Kurt was still there. He was now sleeping peacefully.

"What is he doing here?", Rachel asked and motioned to the sleeping boy. "I thought the two of us were going to have a romantic dinner tonight."

"I don't know, some stuff went down and I found him crying outside the house. Guess he had a fight with his boyfriend or something. He didn't really say anything, he was so shocked", Finn said.

"Poor him", Rachel said sympathetically. "Shouldn't he sleep in his bed instead of here?"

"I want to keep an eye on him. You should have seen him, he was in terrible shape. We can just watch our movie on low volume, okay? I'm worried about him", Finn said.

"Of course", Rachel said lovingly and leaned down to kiss him. "I'll go get snacks."

Finn popped in a DVD and settled down in his chair again. He couldn't stop glancing over at Kurt in case he had woken up again. He really wanted to know what had happened because he had never seen Kurt so distraught before and it really worried him. And if that Blaine dude had done something to hurt _his_ little brother – well, technically they were step-brothers and the same age, but Finn considered it his job to protect Kurt from harm and that included kicking the asses of his douchy boyfriends – then he was sure as hell going to pay for it.

Rachel returned with a bowl of popcorn and settled down in his lap. They had barely made it through 20 minutes of the movie before Kurt moaned softly and they both jumped in surprise.  
Finn was on his feet within the next five seconds.

"Dude, you alright?", he asked anxiously.

Kurt sat up, gingerly touching his aching head.

"What happened?", he asked slowly.

"You just turned up on the lawn a while ago and you were totally weird and then you passed out", Finn told him.

Kurt processed these news for a few seconds before he leapt off the couch, making him wince from his throbbing head ache.

"Is he here?", he asked.

"Who?", Rachel asked dumbly.

"Blaine! Is he here?"

"No...", she said carefully. "What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything! His brother found out about us and he told their father and he snapped and- and then Blaine forced me to leave and I think his father is hurting him and- and-"

He was once again reduced to a sobbing pile.  
Rachel sat down on the couch and forced him to sit too. Finn went to get more water and a couple of aspirins for the head ache. Kurt was more willing to drink water now and for a few minutes the couple just sat by and watched as he swallowed an entire litre in eager, thirsty gulps.

When he was done, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, something that happened about once every five years because he was so careful not to stain his clothes. Today he didn't even bother checking what damage had been done. Besides, he was way under dressed today anyway.

"So, what did you say about his dad?", Rachel asked gently.

She took his hand in hers and didn't complain in the slightest when he squeezed her hand so hard it might fall off. Then he, a little more calmly, told them all about what had happened at the Anderson mansion. He had just come to the point where he took the Portkey and left behind the love of his life when there was a loud thump outside the door. The next second Carole appeared in the doorway. Her already worried expression turned panicked when she set eyes on Kurt's curled up form.

"Oh honey, what happened?", she asked and hurried over to hug him.

"B-Blaine-", he choked out.

"I thought it might be about him. We-"

"What are you doing home? I thought you wouldn't come home before Sunday!", Finn exclaimed.

Rachel had suddenly stiffened considerably. Right, she wasn't really allowed to be here.

Carole ignored the question and remained focused on Kurt. She raised her hand to cup his chin and point it upwards so their eyes met. Kurt had never seen her look so serious.

"We found him a few miles from here in the middle of the road. He's in bad shape", she said quietly.

Kurt's eyes widened.

"He's- he's here? How- what-"

He didn't get any further until Burt had appeared in the doorway clutching a very much unconscious Blaine in his arms.  
He was bleeding from his head and he had a nasty cut above his right eyebrow and to add to the obvious damage Kurt could spot a dozen bruises all over his body.  
Kurt's eyes immediately teared up again and despite the thunder like throb in his head he leapt off the couch. Every inch of his body was screaming at him to help him, save him, protect him.

Burt laid his unresponsive body down onto the bedding that Kurt had recently slept on. Rachel and Finn moved over to the arm chair again to leave room for Kurt who immediately slid in under Blaine and wrapped his arms protectively around him.

Blaine was propped up against his chest, his head safely tucked into the crook of Kurt's neck.

The atmosphere in the room was so tense you could slice it with a knife like a cake.

"We should clean that", Burt said suddenly and motioned to Blaine's head wound.

Kurt looked down at the fragile boy in his arms and images of what had caused these injuries flashed by his eyes. Mr Anderson. If he ever saw that man again, he would not be responsible for his actions. But the most overwhelming thought was that it was Kurt's fault that Blaine was now unconscious in his arms. If he had listened to his gut and not agreed to come over to Blaine's house, his family would have never found out about their son's sexuality and he would be safe, although closeted. That would have been so much better.

Reluctantly he allowed Burt to scoop the boy up again and carry him into the bathroom where he and Carole took care of his injuries. Kurt had tried to help, he really had, but he had received some tough blows in the fight at the Anderson mansion and as soon as he tried to stand up he doubled over and vomited all over the carpet. He was so dizzy he could barely stand, which is why Finn gently guided him over to the couch and forcibly laid him down on his back while he and Rachel dealt with the disgusting mess he had made.

He had always hated vomiting. It was so disgusting and humiliating. He continued to drink lots of water until Burt finally brought Blaine back, a clean white bandage wrapped around his head and torso.

"I think he'll be fine once he wakes up but I'll go call a doctor just to check", Carole said and disappeared.

Finn popped in Beauty and the Beast into the DVD player before he and Rachel went to his room.

Burt hovered around for a while, asking if Kurt wanted anything to eat or if he wanted a bucket to vomit in or if there was _anything at all _he wanted.

Kurt just shrugged the concern off. He had water, Blaine and a Disney movie. That's all he needed for now.

After a while his dad left as well, although he only moved over to the kitchen which was within ear shot in case Kurt would need anything, and left the two boys alone on the couch.

Kurt had Blaine securely wrapped in his arms, a blanket surrounding them both. He couldn't focus on the movie though. He was constantly glancing down to see if Blaine had regained consciousness. There was a big nasty bruise on his jaw that Kurt couldn't help but stare helplessly at. That bruise was his fault.

He kept revisiting the memory where he had left Blaine to his cruel fate, fighting the tears that threatened to well up inside him with little success. It took more than two hours before Blaine even stirred. Kurt immediately let out a strangled gasp of relief, causing Blaine to drowsily open his eyes.

He tried to sit up and at first Kurt let him, but then the pain of his injuries hit him and Kurt pulled him down into his arms again.

"Shh, don't move", he soothed and gently brushed Blaine's hair out of his eyes.

"What happened?", Blaine mumbled, not even trying to fight Kurt's gentle grip around him.

"Terry told your dad about us, and he got... upset."

To Kurt's surprise, Blaine snorted.

"That's the understatement of the year."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Blaine succeeded in sitting up this time. He winced a little as his hurt ribs reminded him of the extent of his injury, but he powered through it and straightened up a little more.

"Why are _you_ sorry? I dragged you into the house of hell for no good reason", he said. It came out a little sharper than intended. "Besides, it isn't even that bad. I'm fine."

"_Really? _You're completely fine?"

"I promise. I'm fine."_  
_

Kurt gave him a gentle prod in the ribs, making Blaine wince with pain.

"You're not _fine_, Blaine. Dad and Carole found you unconscious in the middle of a road! What were you even doing there?"

Blaine blushed.

"I was trying to come here but something went wrong and I ended up in the middle of a forest. I almost passed out then but I managed to get out to the road but then it was just too much, I guess. Look, I should just go home and try to work things out with dad."

"And what would you say to him?"

"Tell him it was all a misunderstanding, that I'm not ga- no, you know what, I'm tired of hiding. I'll just go tell him everything and I'll force him to listen and everything will be fine."

Kurt rolled his eyes. He suspected that Blaine's painkillers hadn't completely worn off yet.

"Do you honestly expect me to let you run off to your dad after he beat you senseless? You're staying here with me", he said.

"I don't want to be any trouble..."

"I've always admired your courage, Blaine, but sometimes you can be really thick."

"Did you just quote Harry Potter to me?"

"I believe I did."

"Well, I can't really argue with that. But I'll just stay for tonight, then I'll go home."

Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"I'm not letting you anywhere near that man until he has had some serious therapy."

"But I can't stay here forever. Your parents will kick me out. I'm terrible to live with", Blaine argued.

Kurt leaned in to kiss his cheek as softly as possible as to not hurt him further.

"Leave them to me, okay?", he said.

Blaine sighed. "Yeah, alright."

Kurt got up and tucked Blaine in under the blanket, completely ignoring Blaine's complaints of being treated like a sick five-year-old.

"I'd advice you to be quiet and let me take care of you", Kurt said sternly.

"Why? I would win in a fight with you any day. Don't you remember when-"

"Because on more than one occasion have you seriously injured yourself to save me and that's really stupid and self-destructive and I won't have it! I'm not a defenceless princess and you are not Prince Charming."

"I thought you said I was your Prince Charming", Blaine said with the most adorable pout.

Kurt couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, you are, but only in the sense that you are ridiculously handsome and Prince Charmingish. But I don't need you to fight your way through a thorny scenery and slay a dragon to wake me from my 100th year long beauty sleep."

Blaine laughed softly at the cheesy comparison.

"Yeah, well, he was going to hurt you and I can't stand seeing you hurt", he said, more seriously.

"And you think I enjoy watching you in pain?", Kurt snorted. "Just wait here, I'll go talk to dad. Don't get up."

He gave Blaine his strictest look and then went out into the kitchen.

Blaine decided that he couldn't do much to change Kurt's mind for now – once he set his mind to something, he wouldn't stop until he got it – so he figured he should just use his energy to rest instead. He needed to get stronger so he could properly argue with Kurt about leaving in at least a couple of days. Blaine was raised not to rely on people, and he certainly never took charity. Staying in another's home when he was injured and accepting their care and shelter felt like such a exploitation he just couldn't stand even thinking about it.

He wanted to go home, even though the thought of facing his father again terrified him. But he would have to do it some day, so why not do it as soon as possible? He couldn't just cut them out of his life forever. He loved them. Right?

He had almost fallen asleep when Kurt returned. Before he knew it, Kurt had popped in another DVD and curled up underneath him, his firm arms surrounding Blaine. He had never felt safer, although he didn't care to admit it.

Kurt had really helped him abandon some of his childhood values, but he still had trouble admitting to needing another person. He wanted to be strong by himself, even though he knew it was stupid. And he wanted to be Kurt's knight in shining armour who saved him from violent fathers and everything that was bad in the world, but he wouldn't allow Kurt to be_ his_ knight.

"They say you can stay as long as you want", Kurt assured him.

"What if I don't want to stay?"

"Okay, scratch that. They say you can stay as long as I want you to stay."

"That's not fair. You don't own me."

"Mmhm, if you say so."

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel! Are you trying to objectify me?"

"Of course not, honey. Now, how about you stop arguing with me and focus on how nice and comfy it would be to sleep for a while."

Blaine snorted. "Didn't anyone teach you to be nice to injured people?"

"So you _are_ injured now, are you?", Kurt teased, earning a gentle slap on his knee, the only part Blaine could reach without putting too much pressure on his body.

"I might be injured but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like I'm a helpless wounded animal you picked out from the animal shelter", Blaine said between gritted teeth.

He knew Kurt was just joking around, but it did hurt his pride to feel this exposed and dependent on someone else.

Kurt leaned forward to press a soft kiss to Blaine's temple.

"Just let me be your Prince Charming for once", he whispered.

Blaine allowed a smile to settle on his lips.

"Okay. Just this once."

"Just this once."


End file.
